16 May 2009

my little present

The other day I had on a shirt that wrapped around and tied "on the empire". The tie was so long that I had it in a little bow.

A Russian-speaking colleague at work walked past where I was talking to another teacher, patted me on my upper abs, and coo-ed something about a present.

I was horrified! Did I look pregnant? Having put on a more than a few pounds since I quit dancing/entered my thirties/moved overseas/began the adoption process, I don't really want anyone patting me. And, being a little sensitive about this, I was immediately concerned that she'd confused my adoption with a pregnancy--and was commenting on "my little present". This was my taste of the magnetic quality of a pregnant belly--even if it's just paper pregnant.

I realized much later that *I* was the little present, neatly tied up with a bow. Yeah. Not a comment on my curves-simulating-pregnancy at all. Sheesh, Kate. Mind a little one-tracked, maybe?

No you do NOT get pix of me in the shirt! How can you even ask that after the rest of this post?

10 comments:

Rachael said...

Lost in translation, huh?!

So, now that you've got that all straightened out...who are you a present to?

Barb said...

That was funny! I would have been as horrified as you . . .

Annie said...

How cute! My favorite story is the opposite of that. I was expecting Aidan, and due to an ultra-generous supply of amniotic fluid (long story) I appeared to be about to have triplets. I'd put my hair in braids that day, but being nearly 30, I really think I looked like a very pregnant married adult. So, imagine my surprise when the doorbell rang and the guy from the electric company asked me if my mother was home.

And, you ARE a present to us all, Kate!

Lauri said...

You are a gift Kate

and last summer I was wearing what I thought was a hip cute bohemian print baby doll sun dress, I loved that dress until the carnival worker would not let me on the merry go round in my condition.. I even had on my spanx undies... talk about a bummer

never worn that dress again

Matt and Carla Morgan said...

Ha, Kate! Paper pregnancy can seriously mess with your mind :)

cm

J. said...

Cute! funny how we get tunnel vision sometimes!

kate said...

Annie, I get that sort of thing all the time. One example--I was kicked out of the faculty lounge multiple times when I was first hired (in our K-6 school) because it wasn't for students.

Unknown said...

Ah! This is EXACTLY why I don't wear that style! I have such a fear of someone thinking I am PG (which would be a shocker for all who know me and know it isn't possible). The dress I wore on Mothers Day had that cut and I was sweatin' someone saying this to me the entire day.

Dawn said...

One thing that has been fun about actually being pregnant now is that I can wear whatever. After 37 years of avoiding most high waisted things because my stomach has always been my problem area, it's pretty freeing. I plan to enjoy it while it lasts!

Deb said...

LOL! Terrible when it happened but hopefully you get a laugh out of it now.