This exchange happens every time Carrie and I go out, usually more than once:
Complete Stranger: (to Carrie) You’re so beautiful!
me: (to Carrie) Say, “thank you” sweetie.
C.S.: (to me) No, really, she’s beautiful!
me: Thanks!
C.S.: I really mean it, she’s beautiful!
me: Um, thanks. (to Carrie) Wave bye-bye now, we have to go.
I realize that they are most likely sincere, since, well, I do have the most beautiful baby in the world. But a tiny part of me worries about two things. First, am I so ugly that it’s that shocking for me to have a beautiful baby? And second, is this person a stalker?
I’m not a curmudgeon, really, but after the fourth or fifth such exchange in a single shopping trip I’m looking for the Candid Cameras…and for a discreet way out of the store. But then there’s always the cashier to get past…