Things strange men said to me recently.

Early-morning-Dallas road-ocean-side blissful-magical-wonderful walk…

A man picking up garbage on the beach looks at me and Mabel and says “Thank you for raising the next generation.” - caught off guard, I hesitated and just said ‘thank you’.

Thank you for thanking me… is what I thought to myself the rest of the day with an elusive sense of pride that I really am raising the next generation, and I am doing it consciously and with integrity.

…

The next day I was walking from my truck to the grocery store in Lake Cowichan, past a hot dog tent and a few men look at me and Mabel and one loudly yells “DOES YOUR SON WANT A HOT DOG?!” - again caught off guard, I look back for an awkward amount of time and then just say “no”.

I will never see hotdogs the same after I heard someone talk about seeing one under a microscope, microplastics and hairs. I mean I’ll still eat one, if it’s a Smokey and I’m camping but no my 7 month old female son does not “want” one.

It’s funny with gender and a baby. Mabel often gets mistaken for a boy and usually, I don’t correct people. It’s in passing and it literally doesn’t matter. She’s usually dressed in green or blue or nature-inspired clothing and so am I. I’ve had multiple kids ask the exact same question “Is she a boy or a girl?”. She has no telling feminine features and it’s just a funny reflection on gender in general.

It’s the first thing our human minds do when they see another human, categorize them by gender. And when it is not clear there is a legit glitch that happens. I love that this is being challenged and changed with the fluidity people are presenting as and standing for.

I also never put bows on my daughter because I think they are stupid and she has very little hair that does not need to be pulled back. It’s funny that girls need to be decorated to look like girls. When in reality Mabel looking like a boy is just highlighting where society is at, how could she be a girl if she is not decorated or in pink? In reality, she looks like a girl because she is a girl and gender isn’t at all important in a 7 month old’s life.