what does an elephant say?

last Thursday, a group of my coworkers participated in an annual charity event celebrating Halloween. prior to the event, we are asked to donate bags of Halloween candy (no gum, and new this year, no hard candies). we take about an hour in the afternoon and stuff little bags with Halloween candy. this year, we stuffed over 150 bags to be donated to Child Haven, part of the Clark County Department of Family Services that provides temporary housing, care and treatment for abused, neglected or abandoned children between 3 days and 18 years of age.

the majority of the candy bag stuffers were women, and moms. however, we were graced by the presence of a 40-year-old single, childless high maintenance bitch. said bitch first noted that we should be providing doggie treats … hold on, it wasn’t that bad. she was referring to a women’s shelter that allows pets. great concept, wrong charity. blah, blah, blah, we candy bag stuffers for the most part ignored her comment. then the conversation turned toward what our children were going to be for Halloween. i noted Punkin was going to be an elephant, as the Middle (with twins) provided two perfectly good hand-me-down costumes (the other one is a dragon or maybe a dinosaur) sized 12 to 24 months. my coworker with twins was featuring a baby Yoda and a baby Darth Vader as her husband is a Star Wars freak. (i offered the elephant and dragon costumes for her use next year.) another coworker with a toddler was dressing her son as Super Man (or boy, or toddler … suffice to say big “S” and muscles.) the 40-year-old, single, childless high maintenance bitch responded with (direct quote), “If you were a good mother, you would make your kid’s Halloween costumes.” my response was, “If you were a mother, you would know how mean that comment is.” ok, i went for the childless factor. not nice. but her comment was like a twisting knife in my stomach. she proceeded to describe how she makes Halloween costumes for her dogs. my response, “That’s because you have time.”

Punkin was very excited to put on his elephant costume this morning, until we put it on. “Off, Mommy.” real tears. that’s what makes me feel like a bad mother.