Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The fat lady

Every twin mother is that person at mothers' group who makes all the other mothers feel great about their lot. Of course the twin mother can't take the singleton mother's complaints seriously (you're whinging because you've got one child with mild reflux when the parent to child ratio is 6: 1 allowing for anxious grandparents? Come on. Give me twins -- one with gastro and the other with croup but developing gastro, a partner with manflu, two step children with various demands and several key household appliances with various demands and I'll give you feeling sorry for yourself. Stick your kid with mild reflux in a baby bjorn and do a shift every 6 hours...). You get the picture. However, it occurred to me today that I am to mothers' group what a fat friend is to her friendship group. I'm the one who makes every other woman feel trim and terrific on the beach. And not just because of the size of my thighs.
Today, however, I found my own fat lady -- the woman to make my chaos look ordered, the woman with a brood to silence my screaming children, the mother of all multiple births. I'm talking a woman who has two sets of twin boys under 5 and infant triplets. Natural. No emulating Angelina Jolie with this poor damn thing.
So the next time you catch me complaining, remind me of this poor sod, her cricket team and her mini bus and I'll walk tall and trim with a smile on my face: nothing but love for my boys.

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