(no subject)
My mother really pissed me off today. She was calling to share the news that my cousin's wife had a baby girl yesterday.
My mother has a rather bizarre way of conveying this sort of information to me. I have many cousins; they have many babies. Some of them have been due (well, in one case a cousin's wife was pregnant) around the same time. And when that baby is born, she will get the news from my aunt and call me right away to tell me.
I am not bothered by the fact that she wants to share this news with me. I love my cousins. And I look forward to hearing their news, particularly in the case of one cousin who had several losses before the birth of her first child. The thing that bothers me is the way she tells me the news. I answer the phone and the first thing I hear from her end are words of congratulations. I've never really understood why she does this. I am not the proud parent, or grandparent, or aunt, or sister. I am a second cousin. And I've never been one to beat around the bush either - if she's calling to tell me that someone has had a baby,then she should just come right out and say it: "Hi, guess what? You're cousin's wife had the baby!".... but she doesn't. She just offers her congratulations to me, a lowly second cousin to this baby. I will be lucky if this baby ever really knows who I am (since I no longer live in the same country as her parents and even when I'm there, they aren't around as they live several hours away and have impossible schedules). And maybe I'm being irrational. But I find this way of telling me annoying. Particularly now. Why is she congratulating me??? My baby is dead.