New Best Friend

I have a new best friend...and I don't even know her name.

Tricky, eh?

So, I'm in my 33rd week of pregnancy. It's the holiday season. My girls just keep getting bigger and smarter and harder to physically handle. And I'm tired. Not just a little tired. But bone-numbingly tired. Especially at the end of the day, which coincidentally, is when the girls have their dance classes.

Tuesdays is my youngest daughter's day for dance class. Her class starts at 5 pm, which is when my energy is pretty much all spent for the day.

This past Tuesday was gift exchange day, so I had quite an armload of stuff with me when we arrived at the dance studio. I got my daughter into her class and my oldest and I sat down on the bench outside the studio. One of the other mothers looked over at me and asked how long I had left. I told her I was due Feb. 1 and she said something that made me truly happy:

"Oh, you're really getting to the hard part now, aren't you?"

Why, you ask, would such a statement make me happy? Well, I'll tell you...BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! And someone, other than myself, readily acknowledged the fact that the end of pregnancy can be really hard, physically if nothing else. Particularly when one already has children on the outside.

This will shock you, dear reader, I'm sure, but I am not one of those gushy pregnant women. Being pregnant does not give me a glow of happiness. I do not feel incredibly bonded to the tiny creature inhabiting my womb. I do not feel the best I've ever felt. In all honesty, I feel as big as a house, my bones ache, I'm tired, I have zero patience and I'm just ready to be done. And people do not want to hear this kind of honesty from a pregnant woman. People want to hear gushy stories about how much I love my unborn child...how wondrous it is to grow a child...and all that kind of crap.

And so, this unnamed woman, who commiserated with me about being in the final stages of pregnancy, who told me she has 4 kids and none of them resulted from a love of pregnancy, is my new favorite person. Just that little bit of understanding from a virtual stranger made my day...and made me want to buy her presents.