Babies Having Babies

I suddenly hear some murmuring outside my car window. I see an elderly lady standing there, waving her friend over. I am in shock when I see them peer into my window, noses almost fogging up the glass. They straighten up, stick their hands in their pockets and begin to walk away.

Before they got too far away, I heard one of them mutter, “Babies having babies.”

Before I realized what’s happening, I started crying. My husband came back to the car. He looked at me in the backseat and is alarmed to see my face is red and wet. “What’s wrong?” he asked, probably figuring it’s just a new mom hormonal thing.

“They…they…they,” I stammer.

“What?”

“These…ladies. They…”

“What ladies?”

“They were judging me. I heard them. They said, ‘Babies having babies.’”

He looked around the parking lot. “Where are they?”

“In the store.”

“And they said it to your face?”

“I heard them.”

“And you’re sure they were talking to you?”

“WHO ELSE WOULD THEY BE TALKING TO?”

“Calm down.”

“I’m upset.”

“I know, but just breathe….”

It was at that moment that I knew life as a young mom would be different from what I thought. I wouldn’t be given the benefit of the doubt that I was a capable mother and that my kids were in good hands. I wouldn’t be trusted to know what was best for my kids, and I surely didn’t plan to have them.

What they couldn’t know  was that I was serious about this. Motherhood was my life. I lived for my kids. Would do anything for them. Didn’t matter how much money I had or how tired I was, I was going to be there for my kids. POINT BLANK.

I actually want to thank those judgmental old ladies. Thank you, old ladies, wherever you are, for pressing your nose against my car window and hurling your judgmental attitude at me, an emotionally unstable new young mom. I couldn’t find my voice that day to get out the car and ask, “WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM?” But I found my voice now. And it's loud. And it's powerful.

Read more of Tara's writing at The Young Mommy Life.