Same But Different

I was in Waitrose this afternoon (went in to get butter and ended up spending £15).

Anyway, the checkout next to me, had a "yummy mummy" with a buggy (and toddler boy).

After the YM went through, she was fiddling with buggy, baby and shopping for ages, so the cashier had time to look her up and down and told her she had something stuck to her shoe.  She looked couldn't find it, sighed, and carried on with her flustering.  He then said "there! Your right shoe!".

She found it, and instead of saying "thanks for letting me know" said "that's the least of my problems!"

His reply was "I was just saying" which he said in a needy way, waiting for some degree of civility from her which was NOT AT ALL forthcoming.  He was met with silence....

Incidentally, EVERYTHING I bought was on offer, so I stayed to read my receipt to check all went through correctly (no problem as nobody behind me in queue) and I said to the cashier by way of explanation "I am just checking all of the offers went through".  She pretended not to hear me.  In case I was paranoid, I repeated it, and she looked at me as if to say "did you squeak".  I replied (like her colleage earlier) in a needy way with "I didn't realise I wasn't allowed to speak to you" and she just guerned at me.  Gosh, you don't get what you pay for in Waitrose if service is meant to be part of the package...!

Myself and said same YM walked out of the shopping centre together at the same pace and even towards the pedestrian crossing. I for one thought she was blessed as the child looked a similar age to Aaron yet caused her no bother (Aaron won't even go in his buggy anymore - unless for nap - so every walk is a negotiation).  At the pedestrian lights, she looked VERY flustered, and never once looked or spoke to her son.  The vibes coming off her were like a complete stress head.

Anyhow, I then popped in somewhere for lunch and got talking to a Mum at the till who I thought I could relate to.  She also had a little boy, who looked the same age as Aaron, but as with Aaron, not a buggy to be seen.  Turned out, he is her 4th child......! She has 3 at school who are all girls (two of which are twins), and although I could tell she was the same age as me, although she looked 24, turns out she's 36 and I am 39. Also turned out her son will be 3 this week whereas Aaron is only 2 and a half.  So at age 36 she has 4 kids whereas at age 39 I only have 1.

Anyway, I was pondering on this for a while after, and I thought ironically, the Mum that repelled me due to her stress head, is probably more similar to me, than the one I was drawn to talk to.

Our yins do like to find yangs.

So I guess with all the Mummy bashing we all go on with (like after the Guardian Yummy Mummy article) we should remember we are all the same but different.

I wish I could pad this post out with some clever swearing and quips to be really cool, but sadly that aint me, so this is a simple tale retold, by a simple girl who hasn't/can't dress it up with wise cracks.

One thing I will leave you with, is that in Kundalini Yoga we used to have a saying that "the other person is you" and it is so true.  We should check when people are being a mirror to us.

Bye for now, Liska xx