Story Time!

Cartoon by Dave Knott

So, where I live, we don't have washer and dryers in our units.  We have a community laundry room.  This is part of why I will not be cloth diapering.  It would take a whole nother level of dedication to go back and forth to the laundry room because of diapers and I don't think it will be worth it in the end.  But that isn't the point of this story.  This story is one that happened yesterday...

I have a pretty regular schedule of when I launder and, as such, I've become friendly with a woman who is a housekeeper for one of my neighbors, who also has a pretty regular schedule of laundering.   We say hello, how have you been, that type of thing.  Yesterday I went to go get our sheets from the dryer (Tuesday is sheets day) and there was my friend.  To paint a picture, she is a very pleasant woman, in her sixties and Hispanic.  Her ethnicity is worth mentioning because English is her second language and while she speaks English very well (better than I speak Spanish!), sometimes she has to search for a word.  This will become important to the story...

So I say hello and how are you and she responds with a sigh, "Not so great."  I say, "Oh no. Are you feeling sick?"  And she says, "No, it's not that.  My mother passed away last weekend."  "Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that!" I responded.  It's never easy to lose a parent, no matter when it happens.  She went on to tell me about her mother's last days and how she was coping with it all.  Her mom died on her 98th birthday, so she had a nice long run.  But again, it's never easy, and she is having a tough time with it.  She told me a bit more and when she was ready to change the subject she asked, "How's the baby??"  And I smiled, "He's doing good! Getting big!"  And she smiled knowingly, "It's a boy?"  "It is," I said.  She says, "I can tell.  Because of your face."  And then it was my turn to smile knowingly.  I've heard the wives tales of how your face doesn't change much when you have a boy and I've been told a few times how my face "doesn't look pregnant."  So I thought I knew where this was going.

She went on, "With a girl, your face gets round..."  I nodded because I had heard this before too.  Then she continued, "With a boy, your face..." and she couldn't come up with the word.  She started pointing to under her eyes, indicating the bags.  So I tried to help. "You look tired?" I offered.  She sort of nodded, "Yes, yes, hmm, my mom always used to say it was like you had diarrhea face. Like you have diarrhea.  Your face is long and tired.  But with a girl, your face fills out and is happy."  I had to laugh.  I'm still laughing!  I was told I have a "diarrhea face"!  Not what I was expecting to hear!  And I had to agree...I DO have bags under my eyes right now.  But I'm pretty sure it's because I haven't been sleeping well this week.  Also, I never thought about someone looking tired as being related to stomach issues!  I think something may have gotten lost in translation but still...too funny.  And now I have a new nickname at my house.  Which sounds really disturbing to anyone that doesn't know the context...

All I can say is, thank goodness for makeup!