louise on the left (coast)

One day when I pregnant with my second child, a man in a store walked up to me, stared at my round belly, blurted out, "I hope to God you have a boy!" and kept walking. I was shocked. Scared, actually. You feel vulnerable with a big, protruding belly. You can't move quickly. But, on this day I remember having my wits about me enough to snap back, "Oh, really? Well, I don't. I think women are great!" But, the man just kept furtively moving on. He wasn't interested in a dialogue. However, I've never forgotten that moment. A complete stranger wanted me to have a boy so badly that they felt they had permission to say so to my face. Well, to my belly. Look, it's not that I dislike men, I love men, but I don't want to be one. And, I do not need to have one to feel complete. How could anyone feel one gender is superior to another. To rue a child's gender seems to me the deepest of crimes. We are born who we are. We deserve love no