Drying up

Pert breasts are said to resemble champagne coupes (as opposed to champagne flutes, which is a good thing; can you imaging shopping for shirts?). As my milk supply dwindles, coupes are not the drinking vessels that come to mind when I look at my chest. A pair of empty wineskins, maybe.

My post-baby body is not as upsetting to me as the fact that I am about to stop lactating. Kai weaned himself several weeks ago. I dealt with it. I was still able to provide him with a bit of breast milk through daily pumping. That is no longer the case. I have been trying unsuccessfully to pinpoint precisely what it is about this that makes me sad.

I have a feeling that this is only the first of many small maternal heartbreaks. Earlier today Kai pulled himself to his feet without assistance for the first time. One of these days he will take his first steps. As any parent knows, it is bittersweet watching one's child moving toward independence. The drying up of my milk, however, is all bitter and no sweet.

It's not about tolerance.

I had an interesting conversation with an old friend recently. She was complaining that a certain popular TV show (one that I don't happen to watch) had gone overboard with gay-positive messaging. As a result, she had lost interest -- in spite of ostensibly being gay-positive herself. I'm no fan of being beaten over the head with a message either, but my friend's next comment made me wonder if her perspective on the issue wasn't somewhat skewed. "It's about tolerance. If people want tolerance, they should be tolerant of others' points of view, too." I used to think along the same lines: everyone should accept each other's opinions and heck, just get along already. I no longer agree. When it comes to inequality, there is no reason to simply tolerate the opinion of anyone who would deny other people rights that they themselves enjoy. Doing so contributes to oppression.

Happy Pride, everyone. We should ALL be proud of who we are (except for self-righteous douchebags who believe in different rights for different people -- you should be ashamed of yourselves).