The Which Wich Epiphany

First, let me give you some background. I have a niece. She is 15 months old. She’s about the most adorable baby in the whole world. I recently was in Texas, and my sister, her mom, happened to be at work. My mom and I decided to eat out and we had Addi (my niece) with us. I, a fifteen year old girl, was carrying her. From the second I got out of the car, unbuckled Addi from her car seat, and carried her on my hip, I was getting looks. Yes, it’s true Addi has the same hair color and eye color as me. But also the same as her mother. So I can partly understand why people were looking at me funny.

But, let me just say:

1) Does my body seriously look like I could have possibly given birth to a child recently? Um, no.

2) Is it okay to not look someone my age in the eye just because you think the baby they are holding is their own? Um, no.

3) Was it seriously necessary to practically drop everything, stop chewing your sandwich, put your drink down, and stare at this person you know nothing about like they come from another planet just because they look too young to have a baby of their own? Um, no.

So, the lessons I learned from this experience at the local Which Wich sandwich shop in Denton were:

1) I will never judge someone who looks my age or younger for having a baby with them. I mean, if I don’t know the person, then how am I to know if the child is theirs or not? They could be babysitting, or it could be their sibling, or heck, it could even be their kid, but why should I care? Truly, it’s not any of my concern.

and 2) Just because a young person has a baby with them, doesn’t mean they don’t deserve respect or courtesy. You don’t have to purposely avoid eye contact with them. It’s just a normal person who has a baby with them. Sure, you may think they made a mistake and had a baby, but what if it’s just their niece? Hm? I’ll remember that next time.