Strangers on a train

This weekend, we went into the city on the BART, for Julian’s benefit. Our destination was secondary (the mall) and the two-train ride was the big event.

On the way home, a woman sitting near us, whose age appeared to be somewhere between 20 and 30 kept a pacifier in her mouth. I was obsessed. I found this both intriguing and disgusting. It was the same type of pacifier that my 6-month old daughter uses. I had images of my daughter riding BART into San Francisco with her girlfriends in fifteen years. Will she have her iPhone in one hand and her pacifier in the other?

This woman talked to one person for about half the ride and then when he got off, another stranger sat across from her and they began chatting. She simply kept the binky in the side of her mouth, like a stogie, and continuted to schmooze with fellow passengers.

I thought Julian would be as obsessed as I was. I was positive he was going to ask in his innocent, slow-paced three-year old voice, “Why does dat woman have a paci in her mouf?” I even thought maybe if she heard him, I could use it as an excuse to get an explanation out of her. But no, he took it in stride. I guess he’s not as judgmental as his mother. Adults with rubber nipples in their mouths do not bother him. Apparently I need to get out on public transportation more often and get exposed to the masses.

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Whitney

RookieMoms.com co-founder Whitney lives with her husband, son, and daughter in the San Francisco Bay Area where she writes about parenting, crafts, and activities that moms can do with babies in tow. She and Heather also publish 510Families.com, a site for East Bay parents.