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Originally Posted by Sultana
You have no kids, random people diss you for choosing childlessness (They don't even know if it's a choice, grr!).
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Oh boy, that reminds me of a time I stuck my foot in my mouth...I impertinently asked my 11th-grade creative writing teacher why she and her husband lived alone in this big house in this very nice neighborhood, why they didn't have kids. She totally didn't have to answer my question, but she did anyways--and I will forever admire her for doing so. She honestly replied that they had tried even after marrying late, hoping that they could have at least one. But even after fertility treatments, it just wasn't happening. They thought about adoption, but her husband is Japanese from Hawaii--and his family has very distinct ideas about adoption, I guess, and any child they took into their home would always be considered an outsider by his traditionalist parents. So they just didn't have kids at all...and then she looked evenly at all of us, and said, "Now, you guys are my kids. Everyone who comes through my classroom is my kid."
She is, and will always be, at the top of my list of favorite teachers. She is also one of the strongest women I know. But boy, was I embarassed.
I should note that three years later she wrote me a most glowing recommendation...so at least I know she never felt badly for it
