Now all the parents know

Monday, March 6:

So this weekend, I e-mailed my mother (several states away) and asked her when a good time to call her would be.

We don’t usually talk by phone. It’s just a thing.

But we do see each other two or three times a year, when she comes for a visit. She’s the lucky one with four weeks of paid vacation per year.

She surprises me today, however, by calling. She wants to talk about her upcoming visit in May.

So after we discuss May, I tell her the baby news.

“Oh my gosh!” she keeps saying over and over.

And then, “It just hit me I’m going to be a grandma again.”

“Of course you are!” I say.

I don’t get it when people say they are going to be something “again,” but I know what they mean when they say it.

I tell her I didn’t really want to tell her on the phone, but the closer we get to May, the more I was thinking I should tell her before her visit instead of surprising her with a round tummy.

She says she is glad I told her first.

“We have lots of shopping to do,” she says.

Oy.

This weekend, I also told a couple who are our friends. They are older and have three children, the youngest a teenager.

Mrs. friend hugged me and said, "I couldn't believe you weren't a mom when I first met you! I said, 'She needs to be a mom.'"

I'm not used to such compliments. I mean, I guess it's a compliment. Most people don't mistake me for a mom, though.

Not yet.