On talking to strangers

I'm really not the type of person who initiates small talk with strangers. I don't like talking about the weather and I don't strike up convo about the price of broccoli whist in the checkout at the supermarket. Hell, even when I'm being paid to make pleasantries and talk about dumb things such as hockey and the weather, I shy away from it. Toby calls it "snobby," I call it "socially awkward," but whatever. I just don't like talking to strangers.

Then about a year and a half ago, we got ourselves the cutest little French Bulldog puppy in the whole wide world. When Sandwiches was a baby I couldn't even walk two steps without being stopped and asked about his life story. They'd pet him and rub his tummy, all the while talking with me about what an adorable little thing I had on my hands. And eventually, I came to accept it. I just knew I wouldn't be able to go for a walk without talking to strangers, and I just kind of grew to begrudgingly deal with it.

But nothing, not even Sandwiches, could prepare me for the parade of stranger talk I deal with now. I like babies as much as the next person, but the amount of people that come up to talk to me about my baby is staggering! When I'm out and about doing my daily little tasks, I never expect it and yet it always happens.

Today as I walked around the mall with Bowen in her wrap a huge Iranian man leaned close to my boobs and whispered, "Welcome to the world, little one!" in a thick accent. A man in a wheelchair passed me at the grocery store and exclaimed, "Well, that's a brand new one, eh!" The old lady ringing that annoying charity bell outside of Walmart squealed and asked how old the lovely little baby was. I find myself constantly talking about her to strangers. While comparing the salt content in several different types of pickles, I found myself talking about our sleeping habits to a middle age woman with two kids who keeps saying, "It gets better!'

Everyone is so drawn to my Bowen, and instead of being irritated and shying away from it, I beam at her and talk with them right back! This is the best type of small talk there could ever be.