{"id":2357,"date":"2018-08-22T01:57:33","date_gmt":"2018-08-21T15:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/?p=2357"},"modified":"2018-08-22T01:57:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T15:27:33","slug":"buying-milk-and-thoughts-on-human-nature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/buying-milk-and-thoughts-on-human-nature\/","title":{"rendered":"Buying Milk and Thoughts on Human Nature"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I started getting the comments after I had my third baby.<\/p>\n

“Oh my, that’s a lot of kids.”<\/p>\n

“You must have your hands full!”<\/p>\n

“Are these all yours?!”<\/p>\n

Now, I have five kids, and the comments keep coming. So does the awkwardness. I feel like a large family is a handicap in today’s society. Cars with less seats, homes with fewer rooms. Restaurants. We see it most when we go out to eat. “How many?” the server asks.<\/p>\n

“Seven.”<\/p>\n

Then his or her eyes widen, we get “the look” and the predictable comment. “I don’t know if we have anything for that many. Do you mind waiting?”<\/p>\n

We wait. Sometimes we wait a long time. Then we’ll get a table. Sometimes we’ll get squashed into a booth, sometimes they’ll arrange tables for twelve people, because I suppose in their minds, sevens means a dozen. At a glance, I have to agree. Either way, we stand out.<\/p>\n

It happens at the grocery store, too. Five kids in tow, a basket brimming with food that barely stays in the cart, a bill with a shockingly large number. “I’m glad I’m not paying that.” I got the comment once from a man in line behind me.<\/p>\n

To be honest, I’ve always been the shy one who wants to blend in and not cause attention. I don’t want the spotlight on me; I don’t want to stand out. So sometimes, when I happen to go to the store with only one or two kids, I like to pretend they’re my only ones, and that yes, these are my kids, I’m a mom of two, and I don’t stand out. Not in the least.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I had my only daughter with me. She’ll be eleven this weekend. So I did it again, played that little game in my head where I pretended she was my only child, and yes, I fit in just nicely. No comments, no stares, not any “no room for you!” comments. We only had a few extra school supplies to buy, not our usual overloaded cart, just a few things that fit squarely inside with nothing bulging over the sides. I felt so completely normal. My one daughter. My small, neat little cart.<\/p>\n

Then it came time to check out. As I was standing there, placing the pencils and composition books on the conveyor, I spied my last items to be scanned. Four gallons of milk.<\/p>\n

Well.<\/p>\n

My little cart of school supplies didn’t look so inconspicuous anymore. The four gallons of milk had ruined it all.<\/p>\n

I know, I need to accept my life of five kids, embrace it fully, stop trying to pretend I’m average–normal. I get it. Just be yourself! And all those fifth grade slogans I watched on 90’s TV.<\/p>\n

I don’t care. I like to pretend every now and then. I would say it’s an author thing. It’s not. It’s a human thing. Not many of us admit to it, but we all pretend sometimes.<\/p>\n

That’s why I write. That’s why I love reading. Those are the places we get to see people for who they are, and where we can relate to all our imperfect humanity.<\/p>\n

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I started getting the comments after I had my third baby. “Oh my, that’s a lot of kids.” “You must have your hands full!” “Are these all yours?!” Now, I have five kids, and the comments keep coming. So does the awkwardness. I feel like a large family is a handicap in today’s society. Cars […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[227,226,247,222],"tags":[23,254,253,252,249,248,250,251,232],"class_list":["post-2357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-author-life","category-just-for-fun","category-mom-life","category-my-life","tag-writing","tag-buying-milk","tag-families","tag-family","tag-life-with-kids","tag-mom-life","tag-mom-of-five","tag-mom-writer","tag-reading"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2360,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2357\/revisions\/2360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tamaragrantham.com\/StagingSite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}