Let's begin with the obvious. I'm white. The Mr. is white. Little Mr. and Littlest Mr.-white. Little Miss, not so much. This leads to interesting, or rather, annoying exchanges with strangers.
It appears that I am not the only person who lacks a good and reliable filter and stopper on the brain to mouth alley.
I get all the usual comments. Let's take a look at a few and all the things I almost wish I'd thought of saying at the moment. I'm not sure if I just don't think fast enough to come up with these at the time or if I'm just experiencing a mild mental jam as I try to both censor my expression of stunned shock and be polite all at once.
Let's begin with, "Oh, is she yours?" I think I'd really like to say, "No, she's a rental." and just walk away. Maybe, "Why do you ask?" or "No, not at all. I always encourage stray children to call me mama." I could go with something like, "You asked, now she's yours, no tag backs!" and then run away down the grocery aisle as fast as I can, laughing in a really maniacal way. That one would be the most fun, but then Little Miss would begin to think that the market is where we play tag.
Oh, wait. Who am I kidding? She already thinks that.
Another favorite of mine, the multiple variations on, "She's black?!" There are so many ways to have fun with this, I almost don't know where to begin. Let's see, "shh, don't tell her, it's a secret." "No, she just needs a bath." "No, she's tan." "No, she's a girl." "Well...she doesn't glow in the dark like her brothers..." "Are you sure she's not a dark purple?"
The "She's black" comments usually lead into an awkward moment where someone tries to ask about The Mr. or tries to fish for information without just stating the obvious, "Hey wait, you and your hubby are white and the girl isn't." Yeah, there are a lot of geniuses out there. I think it would be fun tackle these with some real fun responses. "Shh, my husband doesn't know, he's colorblind." The Mr. really is colorblind. "We were really surprised too. We didn't expect her to come out black." "Mmm, hmm, you only wish you knew a black man like that, mmm, hmm." Whoops. Back to the family channel. And once again with the truth, "We let God plan our family."
And we do.
8 comments:
my favorite - carol fricke used to take sam and their friend william [black] to the store together - they were 2-3 years old, around there. people would look at them, look at her, look back at them, and she'd say 'yes. they're TWINS'.
:)
or the time at the Titus Tea 2 years ago when a lady came up and said 'oh, i'm so excited that you're pregnant! and you're having a BOY!' i said 'yes carol, i have 2 boys and a girl. this is a boy. we're excited!' and she said 'but i'm so glad you'll finally have a boy of your OWN!' and i said, like i always do, 'oh carol, ALL of my kids are very much my own, whether they're adopted or not' and she said - and i swear i am not making this up -
'yes, but this one will be the same color!'
my jaw hit the floor, and we were saved by the welcome by the emcee.
i have witnesses if you don't believe me.
whoa.
ROFL!!! I can just picture you saying those things too! Oh how I miss you and the kids. Maybe sometime you can bring the kids (Tues or Thur) to Marx Park in Brookfield and visit with me and the other moms. :)
Oh Steph, I can so see Carol Fricke saying that and yes, I totally believe you. The stuff people say...
Karie, keep me posted on the dates, when school is out, I bet they'd love to come play.
When we got the question, "Are they all yours?", I used say, "Some are adopted but we forgot which ones". About 1/2 the time the person would get my point, but the other 1/2 would stare at them and start to ask about specific kids. I had to stop using that line because Maegan would start announcing who was adopted and who wasn't in a 10 minute lecture. She takes great pride in being adopted :)
When we got the question, "Are they all yours?", I used say, "Some are adopted but we forgot which ones". About 1/2 the time the person would get my point, but the other 1/2 would stare at them and start to ask about specific kids. I had to stop using that line because Maegan would start announcing who was adopted and who wasn't in a 10 minute lecture. She takes great pride in being adopted :)
PS -
TWO DIFFERENT CAROLS!!!!
;)
This is a really funny write up. I especially like the last line. May God continue to bless your beautiful,colorful family.
Post a Comment