To that selfish woman at Children's Place in BP today:

amother

Thu, Mar 20 2014, 8:18 pm

I thought about posting this under my screenname, but I didn't.

I was driving home from an OB appointment in an area of town I'm not familiar with (we were away from home at the time), and I made a left turn to get back to the place I was staying. Completely didn't look before I turned, and I was about an inch from crashing into a car that I definitely would have seen if I'd looked. I cringed, my heart jumped, and then I just kept on driving, being careful not to look back and lost in my thoughts, hoping that the guy hadn't seen me because I would just die from embarassment.

Well, the guy followed me until I got back to the place I was staying, got out of his car as I parked, and started yelling at me about how I almost got the both of us killed! I listened and didn't cry on the outside, but on the inside I was about to explode with fear, grief, and guilt. I finally cut in with "You're right. I don't have anything to say to you except...that I just came back from an appointment and got some really bad news. That doesn't excuse what I did -- of course I should have been looking, and I can't believe I could have done something so dangerous. I was just lost in thought about what I'd just heard, and I didn't even realize I wasn't paying attention. I'm really, really sorry..."

The news? Well...I had expected to hear the baby's heartbeat at that OB appointment, see a picture of him/her on the sonogram...and I didn't. It was my first miscarriage.

That said, Marina, I don't agree with you. Of course I explained it to him. Not just because it was something dangerous, but because I was embarrassed that he'd caught me acting like that. Because I may have been emotionally drained (and yes, I know that a miscarriage isn't the worst thing in the world), but I hadn't lost all sense of common decency.

From our end...Yes, I think it's important to remember that there ARE people out there with true emergencies. So instead of chewing someone out (I know that guy turned white and green and then escaped to his car), it would make sense to say something calmly. Something like, "Oh, I was there first, sorry." The person can then say, "I'm really really sorry, I hate to ask this, but please could I go ahead of you?" I guarantee that will get a better result than just cutting.