Things that make you go "Hmmmmm..."

I sometimes visit Cjane’s blog. I just read her question, "What offends you?" and I'd like to consider it. I've been stewing about something I said that may have been offensive. My neighbor said (kindly): "I can't believe you've had six kids. You're so skinny." My response: "It's genetic. I mean, I work out for an hour three times a week, but so do lots of people that have different shapes than I do. It's funny—I'd probably look the same whether or not I worked out. I bet even if I worked out like crazy, I'd still look pretty much the same. My sister who has my same body type works out 6 days a week, and she looks just like I do" (at least in clothes. I haven't seen her *****. Don't plan to.) 

That's what I said. I'm thinking it came across as bragadocious. Braglicious. Bragnificent. [Shuddering.] Like I think I've got one hot bod. One that couldn't get better if I tried. 

So, what I meant to say was, I don't take much credit for a fast metabolism. And I don't think my own shape is the best kind of body type. I think most people who feel overweight would want to keep their own shape, just lose a few pounds. (More than one person has told me I look better pregnant, because my face doesn't look so skeletal.) (BTW, that doesn't offend me. It's my face. I accepted it a long time ago.) 

I guess what offends me is when people take a piece of conversation or a snapshot of my life and make assumptions about who I am, what I think, or what I do. 

Like the time I let Getty (at age 3) into our fenced backyard, which adjoins our neighbor's yard with a single gate. I notice he's enjoying a popsicle with our neighbor's daughters. I go back into the house. Suddenly a giant dog appears in the yard and decides to play tag with the kids. Getty takes off toward the nearest exit—our neighbor's open front-yard fence gate—and proceeds to run all the way down the sidewalk, turn the corner, and run screaming up our street. I hear crying and knocking at my front door, wonder why in the world Getty came all the way around to the front door, and lift him onto my 8-month pregnant belly to calm him down. Thirty seconds later, another knock at the door. It's a woman I've never seen before. She proceeds to tell me how angry she is with me. How I didn't know where my 3-year-old son was. How I was a neglectful mother. 

My question is, How could she possibly know what kind of a mother I am? Catch any mother in the world at one point or another, and we look horrific. Catch us at other times, and we look heroic.

So, back to the alleged brag-o-rama [cringe]. I guess in that instance, if my neighbor IS offended (which I can't confirm), then I would be offended right back. Hmmmmm. 

Brigham Young once said something like, "He who takes offense when none was intended is a fool. He who takes offense when offense was intended is a greater fool." I believe that. Now to live that way....