Wild Fire

Right now, I’m sitting with my roommate, Courtney, and her best friend, Rachel, while they play video games. I’ll try to stay focused though.

In the second week of school, I had every class that I would have for the rest of the semester, unlike the first week, where I only had one class (it was a nice start). Since I was lacking one last class for a general education requirement, I’ve been forced (well, it’s really not bad… rather interesting, with some stimulating class discussions) to take a health class. It wasn’t too shocking that a great deal of my classmates are freshmen.

On the first day of health, we had to do one of those “getting to know you and getting lots of contact information” assignments. The only reason I like these is because they take up class time, so I usually don’t have to worry about learning during the first lesson. For this assignment, we were given a sheet of paper with a BINGO board on it. However, instead of numbers in the boxes, there were sentences: “I have siblings”… “I was on a UF sports team”… “I was blah blah blah”. You were supposed to go around to people and introduce yourself; they would sign a box that applies to them and give you their email address. (Courtney’s guinea pig just bit Rachel’s neck!) The purpose was to get every box filled. One of the boxes said, “I have children.” When I started to go around to people, I realized that no one had this particular box filled, so I decided to justify being pregnant as eligibility to sign the box. I did this for three people. Then, people started to come up to me and ask if I was the pregnant girl and, if so, would I please sign there box. Well yes, yes I was, indeed, the pregnant girl. After a short while, I had a LINE of people waiting for my signature. I felt like a famous person doing a poster or book signing. Some people didn’t even know what they were in line for, but they figured that it had to be good since so many people were waiting. The questions were prying, and the congratulations flowed out of everyone’s mouths (some not quite sincere and rather valley-girl-ish, some condescending, but most were excited and believable), all the while my little hand was just flying across page after page.

Moral of the story? I’m not sure that there is one… Or there could be multiple:

-          Never tell unknown people that you’re pregnant.

-          Everyone likes a pregnant  lady.

-          No matter what the situation, people can and will use you.

-          If you tell a person you’re pregnant, be ready to answer lots of questions.

-          If you tell multiple people you’re pregnant, be ready to answer all the same questions over and over and over again.

-          If you’re young and pregnant, you will get judged (especially if there’s no ring on your finger).

-          “Getting to know you” time in class can actually work.

No matter what, it’s all worth it.

The End.

P.S. – I have a weird lump in my lower abdomen, on the left side. It’s about an inch and a half long (not wide, it’s kind of like a hot dog shape). Google says this is a water pocket and it is normal. So to the ladies out there who have been pregnant, have you experienced this?