When Are You Due?

In public places these days, like the grocery store and gym, it’s not uncommon for people to approach me and ask me when I’m due. Last week at the pool, two women approached me separately to tell me how “cute” I looked. It’s always a friendly question or comment, and I don’t mind engaging in pregnancy small talk as long as it stays to the what-are-you-having, is-this-your-first variety and not the pregnancy-horror-story variety. Nonetheless, I find it surprising that people are so bold. It seems like a big risk to me to approach a rotund stranger and assume she’s pregnant—what if she’s not? What if she’s just missed her Pilates class a few too many times? Andrew disagrees with me—in my case, anyway—and says there’s no way I could be anything except pregnant. Indeed, my figure these days pretty much resembles my normal self with a basketball tucked under my shirt. Still, I’d hesitate to make any pregnancy assumptions. There is no good recovery if you’re wrong, none whatsoever.