Finally, a little recognition

So today, for the first time, it finally happened. A total stranger noticed I was pregnant. Now, to be fair, I was holding a pamphlet on caring for children, so if she was looking at me and thinking "Is she or isn't she?" she had a little help. Still, it was very exciting for me. It was also funny because up until she said something, I had been secretly hating her and this other woman that she was with. I was waiting for the streetcar on Spadina and it was about 35 degrees. I had my choice of waiting in the shade provided by the streetcar shelter where there was zero breeze or standing in the blistering sun where there was a nice bit of air flow. The streetcar was nowhere in sight and took at least 10 minutes to come. I seriously thought I was going to faint. But I was first in line so I knew I'd be getting on the next one so I was toughing it out (well, actually I was debating whether or not I could justify the cost of a cab but I decided I needed to be at least 8 months pregnant for that).

Then this 100-year-old lady with a cane came and stood in front of me. Well, I was irritated but she did look very old and she did have a cane and a little shopping cart (or bundle buggy as my mom likes to call them) so I thought that her case was definitely solid for getting on ahead of someone who was 6 months pregnant. But then these other two women came up near the front and I was annoyed with them. I don't know what it is with Spadina but people do not obey the basic structure of the line. Everywhere else in the city, people line up. Spadina, the just walk past a line of 30 people to stand in the front. Yesterday someone cut in front of me with a frickin cooler during rush hour. Not cool. It's also the only station where they have to have TTC staff in the subway station to control people as they get on the streetcar. Every other station, people line up unsupervised but in Spadina, they have to have people babysit us otherwise it can get pretty ugly as people swarm the streetcars. I have my own theories as to why this happens on Spadina but they are too boring to expand on here.

Anyway, the streetcar came and I, of course, let the old lady on first. Meanwhile, these two women tried to muscle their way around her while she struggled with her shopping cart. The streetcar was packed and I was not sure that all four of us would get on, never mind the other 20 or so people in line. So I totally cut them off, thank you very much, and was feeling very indignant about it until one of them asked me if I wanted her to guilt someone into giving me a seat. We then had a very nice chat about how people in Toronto never give their seats to pregnant women anymore and really hardly even give their seats to elderly people or those with disabilities. I was so pleased to have strangers acknowledge my pregnancy that I didn't even care that these women had butt in front of a whole line and tried to force their way in front of me to get onto the streetcar.

For the record, I'm 25 weeks pregnant so only 2 weeks away from my third trimester before someone finally noticed that I was pregnant. Sometimes I think I'm going to actually have to have a baby coming out of me before someone gives me their seat on the streetcar.