Today I’m owning up to my newfound paranoia. I’ve regrettably crossed to the other side… a side I swore I’d never visit prior to becoming a new mom. Thanks a lot, motherhood! So far, I’m not a fan of my new attitude.
Yesterday I took my very first SOLO outing with LadyP. It was time to get my butt outta the house. Just her and me… no help from husband, no doctor visit to go to… a purely recreational trip. We loaded up the diaper bag, busted open the stroller and bundled her up more than she needed to be for a simple little walk around the neighborhood. On our trek, I felt so strange… as though I was in a foreign land for the first time. Nothing looked the same. Instead of fully enjoying the sunshine and my little girl’s big eyes staring up at me from her stroller, here’s what I remember most:
1) Noticing every single bump in the sidewalk, and being so annoyed how much I had to swerve around them so that I didn’t hit one and accidentally catapult LadyP like a canon-ball right out of her seat.
2) Swatting away every single tiny gnat that had the audacity to fly within 2 feet of us. Had my baby girl been awake, she’d have been thoroughly embarrassed.
3) Checking each intersection about 10 times (in my quiet, residentialneighborhood!) to make sure I didn’t miss any reckless oncoming vehicles.
4) Wondering why the fellow mother that I passed (with her trendy, $1000 Orbit stroller) gave me a snooty look as she fully checked out my run-of-the-mill, cost-efficient stroller… and then questioning if I just imagined the whole thing.
Even though we made it, my gut tells me this is only the beginning for the next 18+ years… yet another thing I must work on. Fabulous.
