They said it would happen...

Everyone said to be prepared for people touching your belly.  People you know, people you don't will feel a magnetism to your growing bump.  They will be drawn to rubbing your body, as if it will make their wishes come true.  I didn't think it would really bother me.  I'm pretty open about most everything, dispense hugs regularly, fairly affectionate (albeit sometimes in a tough love kind of way), after all the doctors and tests and all it seems like my body's not sacred anymore.  Yet, I still wasn't prepared... 

Here's how it went down.  Courtesy of some very generous people (my parents), David and I had the pleasure of attending a schmantcy event at River Oaks CC to support the Jung Center and the Center for Houston's Future, but most exciting, to hear Doris Kearns Goodwin speak.  [Side note: she was amazing and I now want to read everything she has ever written--not just because she's a HUGE baseball fan.]  I digress...  Even though we haven't completed the first trimester, our pregnancy is now public knowledge and we're the obnoxious people telling pretty much anyone who will listen.  Which includes one of my favorite college professors and a wonderful man.  Who, when he heard the news was perfectly jubilant and excited for us and he immediately reached out and touched my belly.  With both hands.  Now, I don't know if it's because he's a man, or because he's one of my former professors, or because of the environment, or because he's the first and I'm not used to it, yet, or just because it took me by surprise, but I wasn't prepared for that.  Fortunately, I didn't have any sort of violent knee-jerk reaction.  To be honest, I'm not really sure what I did.  It was probably just a brief touch, but of course the moment is now etched into my memory and when it's played back it feels like it was eternal.  Mostly because I had an emotional response I didn't expect.  Everyone said it would happen.  Somehow the warnings still weren't enough to prepare me for it.

p.s. If you end up reading this, I adore your enthusiasm and support for my family and know that your excitement was just an outpouring of that, for which I am grateful.  No hard feelings.  Hopefully, I'll now be more prepared for when a stranger reaches out, which will be more shocking since they won't bring that history of relationship to the table.