I love bookstores, I have always loved to read. I like to keep a stack of three books “to be read” so in case something happens and I can’t get to the bookstore. This means when I go to the bookstore, I can and often do browse for hours.

After work (and running home to take Ben for a walk) I decided I’d run up to the bookstore for a while. I meandered through the store, enjoying reading the back of some books that caught my eye, flipping through a few pages if I was considering buying it. In no time at all, I had a few books I wanted to buy and so I headed over to the children’s area to browse the books there.

I have always loved children’s books! In fact one of my happy memories of Rob was one time when we went to the bookstore and he read “If you Give a Pig a Pancake” outloud to me. Little children started to join me on the floor at his feet as we listened to him read. (He is an excellent reader!) Anyway, full of happy memories and nostalgia I grabbed a book of Jack Prelutsky poetry and then sat down on the floor to read.

So here’s the problem, everything was fine while I was sitting on the floor but when I went to get up I started to struggling. (Apparently this pregnant belly thing is a little more inhibiting than I realized!) Well, after a few tries, I started laughing at my predicament. I didn’t sit close enough to the shelves to help pull myself up and since I was wearing a dress, shifting to my knees and then getting up seemed like a bad idea. The more I considered and discarded options, the harder I laughed.

“Are you stuck?” a pleasant voice asked.

“It looks that way,” I said as I looked at the woman who had come over from another section to see what the ruckus was all about I suppose.

“Would you like a hand up?” she said as she reached her hand out to me.

“Yes thank you,” I said with a grateful smile as I took her hand.

I got to my feet chuckling, and brushing my dress off.

“When are you due?” she asked.

“June 1.”

“I bet you and your husband are very excited,” she said.

“Oh, I’m not married,” I said.

Just like that, everything went wrong. I guess she had realized I wasn’t wearing a ring, maybe when she took my hand to help me up. I heard a sharp intake of air.

“So then you know your baby is an abomination before God,” she said and while I suppose it was a question she delivered it as a statement of fact.

My hand defensively went to my belly, and I felt like her sharp intake of air had been sucking up my air. My eyes narrowed as I regarded her. She was my age, she was wearing “regular” clothes (if not a little more conservative than most people do), even the gold cross around her neck seemed “normal.” There was nothing to tip me off that this person who had been friendly a moment before was going to make such a horrible and hurtful statement.

I thought of at least a dozen come backs ranging from appropriate scripture to cutting remarks, and instead I turned and walked away. She didn’t ask anything about my situation or my plans – she just passed judgment and I realized that her judgment was really all she cared about. I walked with my head up to the front of the store where I checked out and left. There are things that I may not be sure of in this world, but of one thing I am sure – a baby is a blessing, a gift from God, not an abomination. (Now that woman, she might be actually have grown up to be an abomination.)

I emailed Beth about my experience, and my eyes filled with grateful tears when I read her response. Beth assured me that no only was this baby the greatest blessing ever for her and John, she could find dozens of people who agreed with her and who were waiting to meet this little miracle. Again, I was struck by the fact that under different circumstances I think Beth and I would’ve been good friends, I wondered what we would become now, with the circumstances that have brought us together. I guess only time will tell.

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