Things People Say...

Hello Blog of mine...It's been several days longer between posts lately than usual. The only explanation I can come up with is just how TIRED I feel - all the time! Growing a baby is tough work, and I'm feeling it!

At six weeks along now, I'm grateful for no nausea, but the "tired" symptom this pregnancy is way more substantial than I remember feeling with Jack or Lucy. By 8 pm, I'm done, although I feel just as tired in the morning as I do in the evening.

I'm continuing to run with Tiffany and complete my "boot camp" exercises that Keisha sent to me, but that takes a lot out of me too! (after loosing 23 pounds before getting pregnant, I'm in no hurry to pack those back on quickly; I'd like to take the whole pregnancy to gain those back on, quite honestly, but we'll just have to see how it goes. (I gained about 25, 26 pounds with both prior pregnancies). I can certainly watch what I eat and make good food choices, but I do believe that during pregnancy, a woman's body is going to do quite a bit of what it wants regardless of what "mommy" does to it ;-)

But anyways, enough with the excuses for not posting...

Generally speaking, "People kill me," as the saying goes. At least once a day, I'd guess, my world stops revolving just long enough for me to get a kick out of something someone has said or done.

So my post today, it's inspired by something a stranger said to me yesterday when Tiffany and I were out running.

Toby loves to run with us, and a portion of our run takes place around the large, mostly still undeveloped land in a part of our neighborhood. For about ten minutes - the time it takes to do this partial loop - I let Toby off his leash, and he enjoys tromping across the land, chasing the random squirrel up a tree, basically just enjoying a little freedom. Life's too short...

Anyhow, while Toby is way off the path, Tiffany and I start to approach a man and woman, walking two dogs, one of which is a German Shepherd who is visibly upset about Toby way off in the distance, aggressively pulling his owner. As we get close enough while passing, this lady abruptly shouts while pointing, "Do you know whose dog THAT is?!?"

I smile and say, "Oh, that's mine."
(Translation: no need to worry lady, he's fine and he's with me.)

Well, she retorts, pointing to her own dog, "Well, mine will EAT him!"
(Translation: how dare you let your dog run free! that's so bothersome to me because it's making my dog difficult to handle, not to mention you're running the risk of dogs like mine EATING yours!)

Now, as for my response, "Kelly" five years ago would have been mortified, profusely apologized, and quickly run out to find Toby and put him back on the leash...

"Kelly" void of pregnancy hormones would have likely apologized, although not felt sincere about it, and went on my way, waiting to talk about this woman until she was out of earshot...

Well, "pregnant Kelly" just doesn't care as much, and I just burst out laughing in her face, right there!

What I wanted to say was, "Well, you've got a really mean-ass dog; I feel bad for you!"

So, frankly, between laughing in her face or saying that to her, I think I chose the more polite option. Not that I'm saying it was polite - clearly it wasn't. But then again, neither was her comment which started the interaction...

I do have to say though, I am quite glad Toby was way off in the distance, chasing who knows what, because that German Shepherd - it really was ready to tear Toby apart had he been closer to the road. My sweet, less-than-smart, gentle giant would have trotted up to this dog to say hello and met his death. And then we really would have had a problem.

So, Tiffany and I kept running down the road, I eventually composed myself, met up with Toby a little further down the road and leashed him back up, and continued our morning jog, thankfully not meeting up with "rude dog owners" again.

I will say, this lady has a point, and technically, I'm aware I'm not supposed to let my dog off his leash, but surely this woman could have found a bit nicer of a way to express her displeasure with me. That's what gets me. I don't fault people getting angry or upset or sad, or whatever it may be, but sometimes people are so careless in what they say (or do).

I feel a bit bad for this woman - she must be pretty unhappy in her life, for is this is how she chooses to interact with strangers - with such contempt - well, she has bigger problems than I!

For example, I was driving down Old Big Cove last week, and saw something that made me laugh out loud: some homeowner was growing a GIGANTIC cactus plant around - get ready...his MAILBOX! The mailbox was drowning in the middle of huge, round, prickly cactus projectiles that surrounded the mailbox!

What the heck are you trying to say to your postman?!?

Other, significantly less dramatic examples, but nonetheless, make me smile and shake my head in slight confusion:

-99.9% of the time my mom calls me, the very first words out of her mouth are, "Hey Kell, quick question..."

At first it was quirky, but now I'm beginning to wonder why I'm not worth carving out at least five minutes of time for an "unstructured discussion."

I know she probably doesn't even realize she does it (and if she reads this post, will surely find a new greeting when we talk ;-), but nonetheless, it's still curious to me..."Quick question" every time.

My dad has a similar way about him...when we talk on the phone, his question is always, "Anything exciting going on?" I really wish I had responses that would fit "exciting," like, "Yes! We just won the lottery!" or "I'm having TWINS!" or "Lucy just promised me that she'll never again, ever in her life, whine in my face!"

But, sadly, I can usually only respond with a report of the goings-on of a stay-at-home-mom's life: enjoying the kids and their "highs" and "lows," changing diapers, doing laundry, unloading the dishwasher, breaking up fights, drying up tears, scheduling doctor's visits, and occasionally getting away with the husband or the girls.

Anyhow, just a fun question to throw out there for any of you who are reading and feel like making a comment: what do people do or say that really gets you? ;-)