The ice has finally melted and Stella and I ventured out to the grocery store today for more supplies. Well supplies other than milk. They were COMPLETELY OUT! Only had like one gallon of buttermilk and that frankenmilk Mootopia stuff. So no milk for us. Oh, but the point of this story: Stella has a black eye because she fell on her bookshelf while playing on it and trying to pull up Tuesday evening. I was two inches away and I still have no clue how she did it. I think she was just really tired and clumsy. I cried nearly as much as she did, I felt so guilty, but Tim, who was only like 3 feet away when it happened, pointed out that there was nothing I could do. But I've gotten over the initial shock of what it looks like and I didn't really think about it until I got to the grocery store. Everybody stared at her! Yeah, like I hit my baby and then take her to the grocery store. Everyone at the deli counter asked what happened. I wanted to say, "none of your business.", but I thought that might be suspicious, so I told the story over and over again. One old man said, "learning to walk's tough, ain't it kiddo?" when he saw her. I thought that was kind of sweet, since he obviously knew that kids get all kinds of bruises when they start getting mobile. And another lady told me about her son falling out of his high chair and his tooth going through his lip. Sheesh!
I also chatted with a woman who was in line in front of me with her 21 month old daughter who was enamored of Stella. This woman was pregnant, and we chatted happily, but I felt a little like, "woah, what the heck?" when I noticed she was using a WIC coupon. She'd said how her husband wanted 4 kids. I can't help but think, "shouldn't you wait until you can afford them?" This is probably very snobbish and bougeois of me, but I couldn't help thinking that my tax dollars were paying for her kids. It was weird too because her daughter was very well dressed. I didn't notice what they were buying except for the milk because she bought it separately (that's what you have to do with WIC, I think). And she was white, which I think it's totally racist that I am bringing up, but there you go, I think it's important to the story in case you assumed she was non-white. (oh, the milk she bought was Lactose-free, in case you were wondering how she got milk when there was none)
3 comments:
Any time I start thinking about someone using WIC or panhandling for inappropriate reasons, I just think about what it would be like if I was for some reason temporarily in that situation. I'm sure there are people abusing the situation, but my guess is they're the exception. If there's one thing I've learned about the federal government, it's that you have to REALLY want something from them to go through the effort to get it.
I once saw a young boy use WIC to buy a single banana which he promptly consumed. After seeing that I shut up about the government using my tax dollars to keep people from starving in the streets. I'm glad Travis' tax dollars bought that pregnant woman some milk, she needs it. Sometimes I wish our taxes were higher so that we could have socialized medicine. I would pay for that.
When I see homeless people I think about how easy it might be for someone to end up in that situation. I think about my aunt who relies on the love and care of friends and family to keep her off the streets. I have no doubt that is where she would be if she had no family. At the intersection of Lamar and the Brodie Oaks shopping center entrance is a homeless man whose sign reads "jokes for sale." He is my friend's uncle. He used to drive a taxi and has had a severe drug addiction for most of his life. He lived with his parents but they are dead now. I guess that is why he lives on the streets.
There but for the grace of God go I.
There is a reason kids are made of mostly cartiledge for the first couple years. What a happy looking baby! That sounds traumatic though! Wow that's a lot of exclamation marks! :)
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