Question: is this the face of a grandmother? My siblings will probably be snarky and answer - GREAT grandmother! But seriously.
Yesterday I officially rented out our latest vacancy, to a gal and her 16-year-old daughter. Seem like nice folks, but I've been wrong - SOO wrong - in the past. Time will tell. (Incidentally, the previous tenants have called asking when I'm going to be returning their security deposit. If you think there is going to be much of that $600 left after making up for your late rent, the black carpet, all the missing blinds, and the door with KNIFE holes in it, you are going to be disappointed very shortly! But that is for another day . . . )
Anyway, I pull up in my 'ride' last night - the double stroller with my entourage happily riding inside - and the gal said: 'Oh, how sweet! Are these your grandchildren?' I have to say it catch me off guard. I just told her I got started late and left it at that.
I'm the first to admit I'm no spring chicken, and I am not going to be in any 'Oil of Olay' ads anytime soon, but GRANDMOTHER?! COME ON!
After I thought about it a little, kicking it at the park afterwards where we are always the only Caucasians in the crowd, it struck me. In her culture, I could quite easily be a grandmother. If I had my first kid between 16-18, and then my kid had HER first kid around the same age, I could be a grandmother. SCARY! And it would be perfectly normal for the grandmother to be taking care of the grandchildren.
It makes me feel not quite so out of place in my own world. I might be a late bloomer, but at least I'm not a grandmother yet!!
Thursday, October 25, 2007
cultural differences
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11 comments:
kat... are you the kat from boulder who was doing a post doc and at one time (sorry to bring this up if this is bad memories) was part of a "kat and roger" coupling?
i am indeed that kat, and the 'kat and roger' coupling has resulted in a dog, 3.5 years of marriage, and 2 small children.
The only problem, Kat, is that I can't think of a satisfactorily snarky comment. But the term lmao did pop into my mind. "You? a grandmother?" Heck, in some respects, it's still kind of hard to think of you as a mother. Not as hard as it was to see David as a father, but still...
On a more serious note, I wanted to say thanks for putting up this blog. It's a great way to keep up with the goings on back there in CO from half way around the world. And it's great to see the pics of the kids, see how big they're getting and all.
hey kat... that's great. i always liked you guys. although, i felt like you guys were too cool and smart for me, i'm glad to have re-connected with you.
i always thought roger looked like tim robbins. am i right or am i right?
hey tom - glad the blog is working for one of its intended purposes. the flip-side of that is that i'd like to know what YOU are up to on the other side of the world, so either comment more often or set up your own little blog to let us know what's going on!!
ola dp - you are hilarious. i always thought YOU were too cool and smart. :) go insecure nerds.
and roger TOTALLY looks like tim robbins. only maybe just a little more handsome. :)
dp - and very importantly, i LOVE your blog. very sharp. i really like your perspective on things.
hey kat... muchas gracias.
it's funny... you had been posting on my blog with an air of familiarity to me... yet i had no idea who in the hell you were.
say hi to roger for me... you guys are great. i'm glad that you are writing a blog, it's very fun to get back in touch with old friends.
I have learned that people will say totally stupid things to complete strangers. Like "are you the nanny" "are the kids adopted". While given that in some cultures where girls have babies at 16 then their babies have babies at 16, you could technically be old enough to be a grandmother. But you are way too youthful to be a grandmother. And when you are old enough to be a grandmother you will still be youthful and no one will believe that you are really a grandmother!
ah mia-
you'retoo sweet. i'm really not overly concerned that i look like a grandmother, more that in this gals culture it seems to be more normal for me to be a grandmother than to be an older mother. if it's ok/expected for girls to have babies at 16, how will that change?
I wish I had the answer, but I think an emphasis on education will change that kind of acceptance. I taught a girl, of the culture you mentioned, who told me that she knew she would be a single mother, just like her mom and her brother's girlfriend and most of her cousins and so on. I asked her if she thought college might be a better option and she replied that people like me don't go to college. Trying to reach some kind of understanding I told her that I wne to college and she told me that I got lucky. These girls have to have some hope that there really is more out there and they have the worth and the ability to achieve more. For that girl I really so wish I had the answer.
it just seems crazy to me for people to be so accepting of their 'fate.' but then again, my life has been completely different, and i've always been taught that i can do WHATEVER i want to do with my life.
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