Top 5

I was at Target last week with the girls. We were just finishing up our popcorn and getting a refill before we left. As I walked up to get more lemonade some sweet middle-aged women arrived just before me. As we were waiting in line, they saw my kids and got big smiles on their faces. They then proceeded (with lightning speed) to ask/comment to me four of my Top 5 Most Asked Questions and Comments I Hear Every Time I Leave My House. It's extremely common for people to ask two of the five, sometimes even three, but I don't think I've ever heard four at once. Anyway, they tag teamed me and got four. Here's how it went:


Sweet Lady 1: "You look busy!" (My #1 on the T5MAQ&CIHETILMH List)


I begin to speak, but Lady 2 chimes in.


Sweet Lady 2: Are they all yours? (#3- and occaisionally this question is substituted by asking me if I do daycare.)


Me: "Yes."


SL1: "Are they twins?" (#4-- they infers Grace and Patience)


Me: "No, they're all a year and a half apart." (I answered #5, "How far apart are they?" for them before they could ask).


And finally,

SL2 looks in the cart and asks: "Is that one a boy?" (#2)


Me: "Yes, he's a boy." (I answer that question a LOT. My answer is usually followed with a "You got lucky with the last one, huh?" comment. Then I say something like a, "We were so blessed with each one of them!" sort of reply. This response has many functions. In it, I hope to affirm to the person asking that I do not in any way feel burdened by my children, nor did my husband force me to have kids until we had a boy, we just love having a big family. I also hope to say it in a way that doesn't make them feel bad for asking but will still make them think before assuming that again for someone else. In saying how blessed we are I also hope to affirm to all three of my daughters who are right there listening and hearing me answer that question several times a week that they are gifts from God and not just biological failures for not being a boy- not that they could articulate that now, but over time if they hear it enough from other people they might start to think it in the back of their minds-- you never know.)