“Maybe when you have kids, you’ll have a son who’ll look Mexican.” The specificity with which the young Colombian woman (born in 1993, a fact I gleaned while she apologetically had to take a call she’d been waiting for all day from an insurance company that happened to ring back at the same time my appointment was scheduled to start) performing my bikini wax envisioned my future family because I’m a Garcia and don’t look very Latina wasn’t what struck me. I don’t mind indulging fantastical stories in awkward situations.
(Against all judgment and reason, I decided to give waxing a second go, and clearly still seemed clueless enough that I was asked if this was my first time. However, this time I stuck to my guns and wouldn’t allow any shaming into a Brazilian and picked a different staffer for that very reason. I wanted a version modest enough that it’s what’s featured on the teen menu [yes, teen menu–jesus, I could never be a parent] in a section entitled “just around the edges,” which LOL, still ended up more invasive and exposed than I had anticipated based on the description of what this wax was supposed to entail: “This service includes the same area as the bikini line service, but includes the sides deeper down the in the bikini area, always staying outside of the underwear line.” Guess I wear grandma underwear because the result was not what I was expecting.)
What struck me was that superficially (not to mention naked from the waist down) I’m still seen as someone young enough to get married and have children. When will that stop? I assumed I was already beyond that and so it was strangely flattering. That I still have a choice in the eyes of strangers when realistically I don’t really. I’ve heard of the women who don’t want children finally getting to an age where no one, family members in particular, asks them when they are going to have kids anymore. But no one has ever asked me that! Seriously, zero pressure, never been a part of my life. But now I’m forever going to wonder if I had a baby would he look Mexican?
Moms. None of my friends are moms. It’s unusual, I’ll admit.
Dads. All of a sudden two friends and I are romantically involved in varying degrees with dads. It’s also unusual and not what I would’ve expected for any of us.