Motherhood is so lonely, claims a writer who hasn't even given birth yet.
What triggered this statement? Well, it was meeting up with some of her long-term friends and having them ask about her husband's job--and express no interest in her impending moohood.
Quote
“So, how is your husband’s job going?â€
“Uh, great,†I said. “He’s really liking it.â€
It would have been a fine thing to ask, except that it was the only thing they asked. Then the conversation rolled on to the others: new jobs, getting-serious-now boyfriends, upcoming travels.
“But wait!†I felt like hollering. “What about what’s going on in my life?â€
Perhaps nobody else is interested in your move to the 'burbs, and your switch from a regular job to "freelance mommy writer"? She seems to sense that, wondering if she's already uninteresting and irrelevant.
"And just like that, I felt a rift appear between me and my closest friends in the world..."
My guess is that once she spawns, it'll be a ravine to rival the Grand Canyon. Common interests is the only thing that will keep a friendship together post-spawning, and she isn't at all interested in what they're saying, because she's too busy being hurt about them not asking her more about her pregnancy.
Here's my favorite comment:
So these are your most wonderfulest, dearest friends, and you didn't say anything about what you were thinking or feeling about your life changes? You just sat there, mute? Were they supposed to read your mind? Or was it that they didn't sense the very most specialness of your impending (cue music) mommy-hood and act like they cared about nothing else? ...And this one's probably the worst, although there are other contenders:
It's all up to you, dear, but it comes naturally to most mothers. To me, you are not a fully realized woman unless you are a mother (adoptive and foster count). This attitude I have has really ticked off most of my longtime girlfriends, most of whom are childless, but it's true. Until you have mothered a child, you are a little selfish little man. How do I know this? I had my first child at the age of thirty-three and it made a real woman out of me.Do you think that spontaneous sex change takes place before or after the pregnancy?