doodledee

Another thing that has kinda surprised me about having a kid is how other parents in the neighborhood suddenly want to stop and talk with you about what's going on in your life. It's not that they didn't before, it's just that now you're suddenly way more interesting than you were pre-conception.

Here's a hypothetical situation:

I'm outside washing my Jeep. I've got my bucket of hot sudsy water and my garden hose and I'm just scrubbing away and minding my own business. Out of nowhere, a bunch of my friends from the sorority drive-up and offer to help. The presoak is just about finished when some goofball decides it'd be hilarious to start throwing soapy sponges at everyone. Naturally a huge water fight breaks out and t-shirts get soaked and it gets kinda frisky and a bunch of sudsy chicks end up wrestling in my front yard and Libby comes out with a beer and a lawn chair for me and IT IS TOTALLY AWESOME!

Happens all the time.

Now in past years, if some mom and dad walked by pushing a stroller and saw me washing my Jeep, they'd probably have smiled and said hi and made some comment about the weather or the wrestling or something and then quickly moved on. They'd be pleasant and polite, but they'd remain cautiously withdrawn and totally disinterested. The name of their kid would never come up

Now, however, it's a totally different scene. As soon as they see Nick playing adorably in his exersaucer™, they throw it in park and fire-up the conversation. And it's crazy what they'll tell you. And not just about their kids, either, about their whole lives. People will tell you all about their financial situation and how they're juggling the whole work/life balance thing and what they like to do for fun and their social security numbers and where they hide their 'secret' house key and all kinds of crazy crap. They tell you this because we apparently share some sort of sleepless bond with them. And amazingly, yes, they're still Minnesotan.

And don't get me wrong, I really like meeting all these people. (I am a people person, after all.) I'm just a little surprised at how much less socially appealing a shirtless dude washing his Jeep is compared to a shirtless *dad* washing his Jeep. Membership really does have its privileges.

Or maybe it's just me. Hey, I'd believe that.