that I like it when other men flirt with me?
Last night I found myself at a gas station in what I'm pretty sure was the ghetto, way after dark, 10 months pregnant, with my 1-year-old in tow, in a less-than-reliable car that needed oil NOW.
Now, these kind of situations actually do not scare me that much. This may or not surprise you, but I have, in my life, "been around the block", if you will. (Although I did feel assured by the security guard who was standing in front of the gas station doors.) I just kindof drank it all in: the rap music thumping from every vehicle that pulled up, the "fly girls" (is that even a current term? I am probably so "out of the loop" :) prancing in and out of their cars getting honks and favorable comments from the men, the interesting products and advertisements in the gas station itself, the fashion (a note on the gas station door read "Please remove your hoodie before entering our store" (I wonder why? Do people "pack their heat" in hoodies these days? Or is it just so, if they do end up commiting a crime, they will be more recognizable in the video surveillance footage?))
Anyway, three young men pulled up beside me and one of them, a charming, dreadlocked, "man" said to me, in a complimentary tone, "Ooh, you're blossoming!" and later murmured something about, "Beautiful Pregnant Woman..." after informing his friends that he left his ID at the house and needed their help with his purchase...
Anyway, it's nice to hear compliments from strangers, and be flirted with. It helps me feel like I've still got "it", even though a lot of the time, at this stage of pregnancy, I feel like a beached whale. It reminds me of what I know deep down, and that is that I am Beautiful.
(P.S. Bryce took the second photo- it was completely unposed. Isn't he brilliant?)
