From Special Ed to breast milk

I recently met a mom in the parking lot at my daughters school and she proceeded to tell me about the great presentation she had gone to the week before. This man, Rick Lavoie, is a wiz in the world of Special Education and really knows how to reel in an audience because he is a master storyteller. Now this mom and I are not great friends in the respect that we hang out together all the time. We've never even done lunch. Conversations are limited to school functions, softball games, and birthday parties. OK, once we talked on the phone for an hour on a Saturday. But she gets me, and we end up talking about everything and nothing. So how did we end up talking about breast milk?! (niether one of us are lactating!)

This speaker was on an airplane once and was seated next to a man that asked him if he was in the education field (he was working on a presentation). Mr. Lavoie said yes and was asked if he had any kids. Yes, 3. The other man commented that he wished he had 3 kids. HAH, apparently the man had 6! What's the point of this recap?...if you are in education, people want to know if you have kids of your own. It makes you more credible.

Immediately my thoughts run back to the hospital after I had given birth to my second daughter. The nurse that was there to deliver Tasha was fantastic, recognized I pretty much knew what I was doing and left me alone. On the other hand, the night nurse gave me the run-around, poking, prodding, and checking off her list everything she was supposed to. Then came the lecture of how to get your child to latch on. She was maybe 18. Did she want to demonstrate?!

From there the converstation just went uphill. Reruns of soaking through padded bras, spraying extra milk out in the shower, and an excellent visual of a 2 week old infant in the lobby while mom is upstairs in her power suit on a job interview. The baby was with grandparents, not the receptionist! I know what you were thinking.

The other point of this posting is to warn people that any conversation I ever have with you is fair game unless you say otherwise. Amy suggested that the real title should be "from breastmilk to special ed". Good one!