Two worlds

Until I was pregnant, I didn't notice pregnant women. Until I had a child, I never imagined what life would be like with one.
But having a baby has been like stepping through some kind of stargate into an alternate dimension.
I now realise there are 2 kinds of people in this world: Those who have children, and those who don't. The ones who don't are the people who stare at supermarkets when the toddler in the queue chucks a tanty. Or the people who invite you to join them for breakfast at 11am (you try being up since 6am and eating brekky at 11).
They are the people who roll their eyes when a cranky tot's parents say "she's tired". I used to be one of those people. Believe me, it's not an excuse. Kids really do get tired a lot. And being cranky is the way they show you. Makes sense, huh?
They are the ones who constantly ask "when are you going back to work" when there's more chance of finding buried treasure in Hoddle St than getting a childcare place in inner Melbourne.
Recently I had to take a mountain of medical bills into Medicare in the city. Ari decided to whinge and cry right smack in the middle of a complicated explanation as to why I couldn't claim one of them.
Trying desperately to listen to the woman, placate the child and ignore the 30 or so disapproving heads looking in my direction from the Medicare queue, a hand from somewhere at my right reached out and grabbed the pram. At first alarmed, I realised it was the guy seated next to me - he gently shook the pram and Ari stopped crying. In a lilting Irish accent he told me had a one year old girl.
At Ari's first swimming lesson on the weekend, one little baby decided to whinge and cry a bit in the pool. A mum standing on the pool's edge suddenly stopped cooing over her own baby in the pool and spent the next five minutes making funny faces to the crying bub trying to calm him down.
Parenthood is hard. Really, really hard. While there are rewards and it can be incredible, it can also be frustrating, scary, tiring and just plain hard work.
If you have a child, you'll know exactly what I mean.
If you don't, you just won't believe me.