how a red punch buggy driver restored my faith in humanity (for now...)

lately, i am doing serious battle with my pregnant psyche. most days, i force myself to get dressed in something that is not elastic. most days, i put make up on, and most days, i curl my hair. mostly i do this to combat the frightful non-curled hair, no make up, elastic rocking image of gracie that greets me and makes me feel like a gross pregnant lady. ahhh third trimester - a rewelcome of exhaustion plus extreme discomfort plus what in my mind is the equivalent of morbid obesity. make way, grace is barreling down the hall. i have now taken to grunting whenever i try to get up off a chair, or roll over in bed.  most days, i do not feel too great about myself. i am tired. i am cranky. and despite my best efforts to not be a crazy pregnant lady, i am losing - terribly. you see our move got pushed back even more. but most of our house is packed up. what remains to be packed, i cannot pack because there's this baby in my belly that prevents me from being able to bend without grimacing (and he lets me know it too, with a few swift, yet powerful kicks that sometimes bring me to my knees, "mom, quit bending over, you're crowding me out here!") someday, when he is older, i am going to remind him of this and inform him that he was merely a renter, and i the owner and i WILL BE collecting overdue rent!!!! so i am overwhelmed.

 

on top of the stress of now being delayed in moving until two weeks before baby is due, everyone i talk to says that if i do not want to go into labor early, i should limit my unpacking. well, sure that sounds great, except i have this INCREDIBLE need to feel settled, which i am fairly certain cannot happen while everything is still in boxes. it is a conundrum. i guess this is when i cash in my friend chips and call all hands on deck!

 

and the whipped cream and cherry on top of it all is lately, i have discovered that people suck. yes all you rush hour washington, dc metro riders, you stink. everyone avoids my eyes when i get on board in the morning, lest anyone feel obligated to relinquish a seat for the nine months pregnant lady. even older generationed men avert their eyes. seriously people, were you raised in caves by rabid wolves??? it's a problem when i give up my seat to a woman who looks more pregnant than i do.

 

but today, on my drive home from the doctor's office, i decided to stop by chik-fil-a for a spicy chicken biscuit sandwich, because sometimes, you just need one of those to get your day started. i pulled into the drive thru, ordered my biscuit and patiently waited to pull up to the pay window. i almost honked at the little red punch buggy in front of me who did not move right away when the car in front of him moved (what can i say, grouchy grace was visiting). but i did not honk and reveal my impatience. he finally pulled up to the window, paid, got his food, and pulled away. now my turn - i could practically taste that chicken biscuit. as i rolled down my window, the lady handed me the food and said, "the car in front of you paid for your meal." and somehow, that small, $2.49 gesture turned my mood around. there are decent people out there who believe in doing kind things for total strangers.

 

so i drove off into the already risen sun, munching away, with one hand holding my biscuit, and the other the steering wheel, when a toyota truck almost rammed me off the road. and the indignity of it all, i could barely honk at him because i did not want to drop my free spicy chicken biscuit. a one-handed steering wheel controlling attempt at an aggressive honk really equates to scaring the nearby ants. maybe. but boy did that biscuit go down good.