Monday, July 23, 2007

Shifting Tide

I wandered onto my MySpace page today and looked at my Friends list to find a large number of profile photos changed. Quite literally over half my girlfriends have changed their photos to pictures of their newborns or creepy pictures of their pregnant bellies (am I the only woman who is freaked out by bellies and "bumps"--or who REALLY hates the word "bump"?). Anyway, it really threw me.

I wasn't terribly surprised--obviously I know that an almost silly percentage of my friends have been preggo or have recently had little ones in the last few months. An even greater number are joining the ranks of the TTCs (Trying to Conceive, apparently). It really hadn't hit me, though, until I saw that page of photos.

To see it in black and white... I don't know, I see myself fading more and more out of the loop. I haven't decided how I feel about this yet, but it's unsettling.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been reading your blog for awhile and can really identify with a lot of your feelings. In my case, I'm lucky to have been surrounded by other childfree people since growing apart from old friends due to geographical distance, new jobs, and truthfully, just not being able to relate anymore with people interested mainly in marriage, mortgages and kids. And they don't really have an interest in what I do either. I'm writing this because you mention all your friends "preggo." My advice: get some new friends. It seems like you're already surrounded by a child-centric extended family constantly reminding you of your difference. Once you have friends in your life whose priorities and values are more in line with yours, glaring differences like kids, having a house, being married, climbing a ladder, etc. (all the conventional things other people look at you sideways for not being interested in, not just kids); once you surround yourself with people you can relate to, you will feel a lot more comfortable and won't have to waste any conversation time explaining and defending Your Life. It won't be an issue (except at family holidays in my case). Yes, new friends will help.

Anonymous said...

I agree with the comment above, however, finding new friends once you're out of that college environment and dealing with the day-to-day work/home stuff is difficult sometimes. A lot of my MySpace friends are already parents and seem to boast about it on there as well. I would blog about it on my page, but I feel like some would take offense. I honestly don't know why, but they probably would. I have several pregnant women using pictures of their "bumps" for their profile pics, and it's seriously disturbing.

Indy said...

Yeah, I don't really like looking at pictures of people's babies. They are babies, they all pretty much look the same. Chubby, small, almost no hair.

I AM grossed out by pics of pregnant bellies. That's just wierd. I guess since that's their picture, that is now how they define themselves.

Yeah, this does push you out of the loop.