Chit Chat

The other day I was at the community center waiting for my friend, Leah, to finish up swim lessons with her son. As Sawyer and I were waiting, one of the men who works there, came up to me for a friendly chat.

His opening statement was, "Wayylll, I am waitin' for my baby tuh be born." I looked at him with a questioning look and he rephrased for me, "My daughter's havin' another baby and I'm waitin' for her to go in tuh labor." I said, "Oh! I didn't realize that you were having another grandbaby." What was I supposed to say? He then continued on, "Yup. She done lost her mew-cus plug and been sittin' in a di-ah-per in fron' of duh tee-vee for two days now."

I turned around to see if I was on Candid Camera or maybe being Punked? Surely, this man had to know that I would totally throw up in my mouth at the mention of his daughter's "mew-cus" plug.

He further continued the conversation by stating, "Wayylll, it is her seventh one. I guess she's a real expert at it now."

"SEVENTH???" I exclaimed. "Yup." He said. "How in the world does one afford seven children and how old is your daughter?" I asked. Why I bothered to continue this conversation, I will never know.

The man answered, "Wayyylll, she is thirty-seven, but she done had her first one when she was....(pause for him getting choked up)....thirteen.....gimme a minute....it was stillborn, god bless....still gets me e'erytime (pointing to his heart) I think about it....(again getting choked up)....okay, I'm alright. Just needed a minute."

I sat there speechless. Couldn't think of one nice or encouraging thing to say. Thank god for Leah because she and her son came up the stairs just at the right moment to rescue me from this crazy conversation.