Apologies

"You'll understand when you have kids of your own...."

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologize profusely to -- well, a bunch of people.

To my mother: I am still very angry with you, don't get me wrong, but I now see how you thought you knew best what I needed even when I was 25. I cannot imagine the day when The Toddler is no longer in need of my constant supervision. Her current forays into independance ("I CAN DO IT MYSELF!") strike fear into my heart fill me with joy, until she shears off a hank of her hair with her big-girl scissors, just as I did when I was her age.

To my friend IG: I apologize for all the things I thought ("Why can't she fold that mountain of laundry?" and "taking away a bedtime book is not an appropriate consequence for refusing to put on one's shoes in a timely matter") when I visited your house after #2 came along. I'm typing this in very close proximity to my own clean and dry mountain of laundry that I fully intended to fold when I came downstairs. Unfortunately, surfing Gap dot com for clothes that my 4th trimester body could fit in was more interesting.

To my colleague LB: I know I walked too fast when you were newly pg and I wasn't. I frankly couldn't believe that you could be winded/unable to move at a normal pace. I'm so sorry! And, when you came back to work, I remember many "Mommy Brain" comments that I just dismissed as excuses. Welllllll, now I Get It.

To the woman on one of my many business flights I took while still DINK, whose child put the noxious in obnoxious. I'm sorry for the evil stares I sent your way. I now know that you were doing your best, and sometimes your best is ignoring the little demon spawn you find yourself related to lest you huck them a few rows away.

To those wielding strollers I refused to give way for before The Toddler was born, I now understand why you needed right-of-way: encouraging a laden stroller to bob and weave in pedestrian traffic is impossible.

I'm sure I have more overdue apologies. I'll apologize for that and say that when my Mommy Brain melts away and my Real Brain fires up again I'll remember what I have to apologize for and give it another go....