My favourite story about myself brings together many of the threads of my life in one place.
I was working at the Canadian Mental Health Association Ontario Division office in downtown Toronto. I had a job I liked, a boss I adored, and coworkers who taught me a lot and accepted me as I was. I was expecting my first child and they threw me a surprise baby shower.
Like most expectant moms I was reading baby books as fast as I could and had absorbed an incredible amount of information. I was planning on breastfeeding and the night before the shower had read how doctors had once told mothers to run bristle brushes over their nipples to toughen them up for nursing. I considered this to be entirely barbaric and even complained to my then spouse about it, and he agreed with me.
I was so flabbergasted and so touched when they brought me into the boardroom for presents and cake that for a brief moment I was speechless. Then I started reviewing the gifts which were thoughtful and kind, until I got to a present that was a brush, labeled ‘Nipple Brush’.
I got quite irate. “If you think I’m using this on myself you’re out of your mind!” I said firmly.
Then.
I realized. This was for a baby bottle, not me. What I had been reading the night before was so close to my mind that I had just assumed….
As realization flooded over me I blushed to my hairline and muttered “Never mind,” while my coworkers sat around me and laughed until they cried. Pretty soon I was laughing too.
Not all of the misunderstandings in my life have been so funny.
