Not My Proudest Moment

I ran into a mom at drop-off this morning that I haven't seen in quite a while.  I want to run and hide every time I see her.  You see, when we first moved here lots of people would ask me, "have you met the so-and-so family?"  The so-and-so family lives down the street from us and it seems everyone thought we should be best friends.  You know because they are Indian and have three kids and Mr. Mint is Indian and we have three kids around the same age, and we live on the same street.  

I guess everyone was telling her the same thing because she stopped by my house one afternoon.  I was dressed in sweats with my hair pulled back in a pony-tail.  I was not looking my best.  She tentatively asked, "are you the lady of the house?" when I answered the door.  When I said yes, she introduced herself and said she was out walking and thought she would stop by.  I felt compelled to ask her inside.   My kids were eating lunch.  

OK, they were eating lunch and watching Dora the Explorer at the same time.  

OK, OK, OK, they were eating McDonald's Happy Meals (with chocolate milk) while watching Dora.   

Let's just say that from what I gather she is not the type of mom who feeds her kids at the Golden Arches, or at least the kind of mom that will admit it.   I made some joke about not winning Mother of the Year that day and we had a pleasant enough conversation before she left.

We have not exactly become BFFs.  I actually get the feeling that she avoids me sometimes.  Whenever I run into her at school I either want to run the other way or go up to her and explain that she caught me in a not so great parenting moment and did I mention that one of my kids actually likes brussels sprouts?

My guess is even I was feeding my kids stir fried tofu and broccoli over quinoa while listening to Mozart when she came by, we wouldn't end up having spa days together anyway.  Most of my friends would have laughed and told me about the time they let their kids share a box of Oreos so they could talk on the phone for a few minutes.  

Not that I'VE ever done that.