This deserves its ow AW thread
Jan 16, 2016 15:13:00 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Jan 16, 2016 15:13:00 GMT -5
DH and I took P out for a short hike this morning and decided to stop at Waffle House for a late breakfast. We walked in at the same time as a woman with three early teens and we all had to wait because there were no tables. While we were waiting the lady came over to me and started asking about P. She then said, "Do you mind if I ask how old you were when you had him?" (I must look as exhausted as I feel today. LOL) Ordinarily this would annoy the shit out of me but there seemed to be something behind her asking that was ok so I told her. 44. She then said, "That's how old I was too. (pause) But I had triplets." So, my turn to cautiously stick my neck out... I asked her, "were they spontaneous or..." She cut me off and quickly said "Oh no, we did IVF."
So we chatted and discovered that she also had used an egg donor to have her babies, who were now 13 years old. We talked about how much it has changed over the years and is so much more normalized now. She talked to me about how she has discussed this with her children as they have grown and gave me advice on when to start the conversation about donor conception. I told her me and DH's story about how we ended up waiting this long to do this. She told me her DH had left them all when the babies were one year old and hadn't had contact with them. since. I accidentally called him a fucking asshat without thinking first and she laughed and agreed and said, "it's been hard but worth every moment." And then the hostess came and told us they had tables ready and seated us on opposite sides of the restaurant.
When we went to pay our bill our waitress told us "the 'mom of triplets' already took care of that for you." And I immediately burst into big, fat ugly tears on the spot. In public. Sorrynotsorry. So here is this woman who took an awful risk in asking a very personal question and discovered how much she had in common with a stranger as a result. A woman who has had to raise three children on her own while I am an attorney and we have far more than we need. And she made the decision to act with such kindness and generosity towards us for no reason at all, other than she could. This is the first time I've ever been on this end of something like this and I am just feeling very overwhelmed with gratitude. We ended up giving our waitress the $25 we would have spent on breakfast as her tip to pay it forward in the immediate moment, but that doesn't seem like nearly enough.
Anyway, I just needed to share this somewhere because I'm still choking back tears almost an hour later. Hopefully it will restore your faith in humanity like it has mine and inspire you all to find a way to reach out to do something kind for someone.
So we chatted and discovered that she also had used an egg donor to have her babies, who were now 13 years old. We talked about how much it has changed over the years and is so much more normalized now. She talked to me about how she has discussed this with her children as they have grown and gave me advice on when to start the conversation about donor conception. I told her me and DH's story about how we ended up waiting this long to do this. She told me her DH had left them all when the babies were one year old and hadn't had contact with them. since. I accidentally called him a fucking asshat without thinking first and she laughed and agreed and said, "it's been hard but worth every moment." And then the hostess came and told us they had tables ready and seated us on opposite sides of the restaurant.
When we went to pay our bill our waitress told us "the 'mom of triplets' already took care of that for you." And I immediately burst into big, fat ugly tears on the spot. In public. Sorrynotsorry. So here is this woman who took an awful risk in asking a very personal question and discovered how much she had in common with a stranger as a result. A woman who has had to raise three children on her own while I am an attorney and we have far more than we need. And she made the decision to act with such kindness and generosity towards us for no reason at all, other than she could. This is the first time I've ever been on this end of something like this and I am just feeling very overwhelmed with gratitude. We ended up giving our waitress the $25 we would have spent on breakfast as her tip to pay it forward in the immediate moment, but that doesn't seem like nearly enough.
Anyway, I just needed to share this somewhere because I'm still choking back tears almost an hour later. Hopefully it will restore your faith in humanity like it has mine and inspire you all to find a way to reach out to do something kind for someone.
