Today, I chatted with one of the gentle, nice ladies who watch the kids at the Y while parents exercise. Many wear headscarves & sometimes they talk to each other in a language I do not know. When I see them at the store, they ask about my kids, and only have eyes for them when I come to drop them off, nodding at me briefly. Theo loves them. Last year, one brought pastries for “your Christmas” & they told me I was the only mother who allowed her child to have one. (When I picked him up, he was sitting on the lap of one while another fed him what looked like baklava, I doubt he had just “one.”)
I overheard a Y member exercising & talking about how “they” should speak English up there. It really angered me. Who cares what they speak to each other? They speak English to me. Today, one of the ladies told me she was from Iran & I couldn’t help thinking about the images we are getting in the media about that country. If it is so horrible, how did such sweet ladies come out of it? Just a thought. A realization that everything is not as clear as you first think.