At some point I reached the age where people started asking, "Do you have any children?" I'm not exactly sure when it started but now, every time I meet someone new, it is asked... without fail. When I lived in the city and I gave my answer of "yes, I have one kidlet, he is (insert age here)" following it with some funny little tidbit about him, that satisfied the curiousity. Since I moved to what is - let's face it, the country - my answer never seems to be suffice. People out here seem to find it inconceivable that people only have one child. Inevitably, the follow up question is: "Just the one?" I am tempted to answer this completely assanine question with one of two possible responses:
1. No, I have more but he is the only one I like so he's the only one I acknowledge.
2. Yes, but we are vigorously trying every other day - sometimes up to five times in one day - for more. Do you have any suggestions on the best positions for procreation?
I'm sort of floored as to what people who have just met me are expecting me to say. Seriously. If I had more than one, I am pretty sure I would mention it. I mean: have they ever met anyone who responded with a "no, I have more"?
A couple of weeks ago, I was introduced to a couple and the woman asked the "just the one?" question so I gave my standard response of "For now..." which seems the best way to curb any further discussion. She then went on to tell me about her baby and then dropped that they already had another baby on the way. My first reaction was: How lucky.. and how very Tori Spelling of you but then her husband made some sort of dig implying the third baby was her fault. A couple with two babies in a little over a year or so sitting across from us who just had another miscarriage and another couple who knew both our stories. It was like someone had just plunked down a huge piece of awkward pie in front of all of us.
Even though I am pretty sure she did not know about our loss, she seemed embarrassed and apologetic about her fertility... I am guessing she was probably told she was to blame... he certainly did not seem elated about another addition to his family. Instead of my mumbled "Congratulations," what I really wanted to say was "Please don't apologize for having another baby... just apologize to yourself for who you are having these babies with because that is how I ended up with just the one."
