Garra Rufa Children
At 27, I've reached an interesting age: young enough for children to think I'm cool, but old enough that I may be a yummy mummy myself.
I went to a local swimming pool at Family Hour with a friend. She had disappeared to the sauna for a bit while I continued doing inefficient gaspy half-laps. A young lady of perhaps 12 or 13 approached me at the shallow end to ask 'Can you swim all the way there? I answered yes, and she hopefully asked, 'Do you think I could do it too?' I encouraged her, her little brother swam over to say hello, and then it happened -
Five children of the young brother's age churning up the water to splash their way towards the Magical Adult. Almost before I realised it, they were there, requesting swimming tips, piggybacks and above all peppering me with questions in the following order:
Do you have kids? Not yet.
WHEN exactly are you going to have kids?
(I point at my bikini-bare belly - Um, not THAT soon, and a boy assures me that he didn't mean to call me fat.)
Are you in a relationship? Yes.
Are you engaged?
For some reason*, rather than giving a straight No, I started rambling about how in my boyfriend's office, all his colleagues call me a fiancée because they don't understand what girlfriend means. Understandably they are confused, and say:
Are you with a boy or a girl? Hm?
Are you with a girl or a boy? A boy.
I like the enmeshed conservatism and modernism implicit in that. The conservatism in the assumption that the road to having children leads relationship -> engaged -> marriage -> legitimate spawn. The modernism in that they heard the word 'girlfriend' in my confused ramblings and lesbianism came to mind as an interpretation.
They were cute! I'm glad I live in a country where it's totally OK for children to talk to strangers.
*OK, honesty time, because we would be engaged if we weren't temporarily in different continents and I feel as if we aren't unengaged. Yes, I'm silly.
Edited for an unrelated note: I just ordered the complete Farscape (which for AGES was retailing at €300 or something ridiculous like that) and the final season of Veronica Mars! I think I can bear to watch it now that enough time has passed.
I went to a local swimming pool at Family Hour with a friend. She had disappeared to the sauna for a bit while I continued doing inefficient gaspy half-laps. A young lady of perhaps 12 or 13 approached me at the shallow end to ask 'Can you swim all the way there? I answered yes, and she hopefully asked, 'Do you think I could do it too?' I encouraged her, her little brother swam over to say hello, and then it happened -
Five children of the young brother's age churning up the water to splash their way towards the Magical Adult. Almost before I realised it, they were there, requesting swimming tips, piggybacks and above all peppering me with questions in the following order:
Do you have kids? Not yet.
WHEN exactly are you going to have kids?
(I point at my bikini-bare belly - Um, not THAT soon, and a boy assures me that he didn't mean to call me fat.)
Are you in a relationship? Yes.
Are you engaged?
For some reason*, rather than giving a straight No, I started rambling about how in my boyfriend's office, all his colleagues call me a fiancée because they don't understand what girlfriend means. Understandably they are confused, and say:
Are you with a boy or a girl? Hm?
Are you with a girl or a boy? A boy.
I like the enmeshed conservatism and modernism implicit in that. The conservatism in the assumption that the road to having children leads relationship -> engaged -> marriage -> legitimate spawn. The modernism in that they heard the word 'girlfriend' in my confused ramblings and lesbianism came to mind as an interpretation.
They were cute! I'm glad I live in a country where it's totally OK for children to talk to strangers.
*OK, honesty time, because we would be engaged if we weren't temporarily in different continents and I feel as if we aren't unengaged. Yes, I'm silly.
Edited for an unrelated note: I just ordered the complete Farscape (which for AGES was retailing at €300 or something ridiculous like that) and the final season of Veronica Mars! I think I can bear to watch it now that enough time has passed.