A very nice merchant, at booth 13 at the artists market, promised me that tomorrow he would bring Violet a woven dress in her size. Or at least that is what I asked for in my head. I could have said something like … please oh please oh please oh please bring me half of a disected cow head dripping n maggots with cheese, yes, cheese and I will pay you 40 quetzales. He of course said oh yes oh yes oh yes. Let´s hope it´s the dress.
Last night I got snubbed by another girl here, about my age. I can´t begin to explain how much it hurt my feelings – certainly more than it should have. As this is my first time traveling alone since my marriage and the birth of my daughter I have discovered the following truths.
Certain people are turned off by the fact that I am married, and have a child. Mostly these are people my age, and fellow travelers, and from the US, Canada, Australia, or Europe.
Being a mother puts me on an entire different level with the inhabitants of the places I visit. Motherhood is possibly the most binding commonality to share with another. It is primal. It is beautiful. It crosses cultures and continents and can be understood in any language. When the women here find out I have a child, and they do too, there is an immediate understanding, a look. Today a woman who I have never seen asked how my baby was. A Guatemalan woman. One I might never have met had I not been a mother. Her twelve year old daughter´s name is Luz.
Rudeness is rudeness is rudeness. I’ve run into that, also. The idea that you don’t have anything to offer because your life is now over because you are married with kid. It’s small-minded people who make such automatic assumptions. But you’re also right, having the kid sure does bridge borders! I finally get along with my in-laws!