THE UMBRELLA
DATE: 05.05.10 TIME: 19:54 PM



The reason I decided to really start talking about my experiences on pregnant-commuting is what happened to me a couple of days ago. I hate rain. I hate rain even more when it’s Monday. My walk to my subway station is about 11 minutes (add 20 pounds to this and you get me taking 4 minutes longer to walk to that train station!). So yes, 15 minutes of walking to the train and when it’s raining, this does not make me a happy person.

After my 15 minute walk to the Q train at Dekalb Avenue… I was wet. I was hot. The hair was frizzy. And I could literally feel my feet swelling by the second. I stepped on to the train which, if I may add, did not have the air conditioning pumping! Whew.

The train wasn’t too crowded and as I made my way on, I noticed the seats closest to the door I entered sat two Asian guys, early to mid twenties with their ipods on and the third seat closest to the door sat a black woman in her early 40’s reading a newspaper. Both guys glanced at me and decided they were going to take their morning nap on their ride to work. The woman definitely did not see me. A white man in his early 30’s standing against the door looked at me and asked, “Do you want to sit down?” I was a little shocked since, honestly, people don’t really ask me this question when, well, THEY ARE STANDING! Of course I want to sit down, jackass! I’m literally feeling beads of sweat forming on my upper lip and between by boobs (which have grown literally two cup sizes in the past 6 months!). I look at him with a bit of confusion and he says to me, “If you want to sit down, I will make them get up.” I tell him “Thanks, but I’m good,” and I end my statement by saying, “People are very preoccupied in New York.” To which he responds, “That is no excuse. YOU should be sitting.”

I continue to stand just daydreaming to myself as I’m crossing over the Manhattan Bridge when all of a sudden I hear a woman yell, “OH YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!” I look over because I actually forgot for a moment that I was pregnant and standing and I wanted to see the drama that was about to go down. But the drama was surrounding ME. The black woman reading her newspaper - the one sitting in the third closest seat - the one who definitely did not see me - was NOT happy. “YOU need to be sitting down!” she yelled. Me, a little flustered, somehow quietly made my way over to the seat. She then yells out loud, “Does everyone SEE these guys? YOU SEE THEM? THESE GUYS SITTING THERE ACTING LIKE THEY ARE SLEEPING WHILE SHE IS STANDING RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM!?” She then (swear to you this happened!!), took her rolled up umbrella and hit both guys in the shins. And then said, “You both should be ASHAMED of yourselves!” This whole spectacle completely made my day.

Now, if you all are wondering if I get this reaction a lot. The answer is no. But I do have to say that black women between the ages of late 30’s to early 50’s are much more voicetress than anyone else I’ve encountered throughout my pregnant-commute.