I'm Not Who Everyone Thinks I Am
53.
So I’m in the hospital with my mother.
And all I can think about doing is getting out of here.
Does that make me a bad daughter?
I don’t care.
I just got off the phone with Dad.
He’s going to get here as soon as possible, but it probably won’t be until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
That means I’m stuck here with my ridiculously dramatic mother.
Now, I’ve never been through childbirth, but she is really screaming an awful lot.
The nurse has even asked her to please quiet it down.
She decided not to take any drugs.
She wants to go all-natural.
Between you and me, I think she decided not to because she thinks that’s what screwed me up.
As if.
Hours of waiting, and all I’m thinking about is Reynolds.
I decide to go call him from the hospital phone.
My mom yells at me for leaving, but she can wait a moment.
I call the rehab center again, and this time a guy picks up.
Hi, could I speak to Reynolds please?
Oh, he’s gone home.
His parents pulled him out.
Seriously?
Do you know where I could find him?
Yeah, actually.
You’re a friend, right?
I don’t want to give his cell out to a stranger.
No, no, I’m a friend.
I used to be in the center.
Oh, cool.
Here you go- 632-749-0331.
Thanks so much!
Just as I reach to put more money in the machine for another call, a nurse runs up to me.
The baby is coming!
I run with her back to the room just in time to grab my mom’s hand and tell her to push.
This is the weirdest experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Finally, after what seems like forever, my mother gives one more hard push, and all of a sudden the nurse is holding this tiny little alien-like thing.
My new sibling.
It’s a girl!
My mother reaches for her, grabby and insistent.
Wow.
I’m a big sister.
And all I can think about doing is getting out of here.
Does that make me a bad daughter?
I don’t care.
I just got off the phone with Dad.
He’s going to get here as soon as possible, but it probably won’t be until tomorrow afternoon at the earliest.
That means I’m stuck here with my ridiculously dramatic mother.
Now, I’ve never been through childbirth, but she is really screaming an awful lot.
The nurse has even asked her to please quiet it down.
She decided not to take any drugs.
She wants to go all-natural.
Between you and me, I think she decided not to because she thinks that’s what screwed me up.
As if.
Hours of waiting, and all I’m thinking about is Reynolds.
I decide to go call him from the hospital phone.
My mom yells at me for leaving, but she can wait a moment.
I call the rehab center again, and this time a guy picks up.
Hi, could I speak to Reynolds please?
Oh, he’s gone home.
His parents pulled him out.
Seriously?
Do you know where I could find him?
Yeah, actually.
You’re a friend, right?
I don’t want to give his cell out to a stranger.
No, no, I’m a friend.
I used to be in the center.
Oh, cool.
Here you go- 632-749-0331.
Thanks so much!
Just as I reach to put more money in the machine for another call, a nurse runs up to me.
The baby is coming!
I run with her back to the room just in time to grab my mom’s hand and tell her to push.
This is the weirdest experience I’ve ever had in my life.
Finally, after what seems like forever, my mother gives one more hard push, and all of a sudden the nurse is holding this tiny little alien-like thing.
My new sibling.
It’s a girl!
My mother reaches for her, grabby and insistent.
Wow.
I’m a big sister.