A few times in life, strangers make you feel bad about nothing! It was just a regular weekday, and Lauren stood at TJ Maxx, waiting patiently for her turn. In just a few minutes, a short conversation that did not even last more than a minute hurt her deeply. While the woman admired her pants, she asked where her baby was, and Lauren replied he was in daycare. What she heard next disappointed her. The woman said, ‘Must be nice to have a vacation from your baby every day.’
It’s strange how it was so easy for her to pass something so hurtful with so much ease. After a long journey, Lauren had just returned to work.
It was not just about her work life, but Sawyer’s three-month-old son also had to go through open heart surgery. She wasn’t just an ordinary mom; returning to work with so much emotional burden for her family was tough. The family had been through a tough time financially and emotionally, as the medical bills of around 1.8 million dollars were hard to pay, and the surgery could cost them their son’s life.
Lauran had no other option but to hold on to her job and the insurance that paid for the baby’s treatment. The woman wasn’t there to witness how hard it was on Lauren when she first dropped Sawyer off at daycare. She wouldn’t keep him away for a second if she had an option.
She carries a guilt deep inside, although she’s working to stabilize the family financially again. Lauran, without complaining, works countless hours every week and manages multiple appointments at the doctor for Sawyer, too. On some days, it gets hard for Lauran to get out of bed, but she does it all day for her child.
No stranger or anyone around the lady can know the number of things she battles to get through the day, from crying while she looks at Sawyer’s pictures at work while she makes her lunch to the laughs and moments she keeps missing with the baby. How she couldn’t witness her baby’s first words is like an open wound. On most days, the mother-son duo gets no more than one and a half hours, and it isn’t the joyful play Lauran wishes, but she spends the time calming down the baby and having dinner while she adores him.
Laura can’t even remember how a vacation feels now, as her life is nothing like a vacation. Every day is heavy. Lauran loves her baby selflessly, like most mothers, but the circumstances are different. She has given up on all the luxuries of her life and chooses to work every day.
How the stranger commented isn’t something to be normalized, but sadly, it is. Society and people can quickly judge without knowing the entire story, but the emotional toll it can have on someone can be huge.
The world needs to be kind instead of passing judgment, as passing comments add to the weight of criticism most of us already endure.
