Grandbaby, Maybe

*While visiting my neighbor, Genevia Baxter, I asked about her plans for Mother's Day. Ms. Genevia is proud to be the mother to 9 and grandmother to 21. She told me that she was expecting her children, Grandbabies and Grand-"maybes" to take her out to dinner and a show. I wasn't sure I heard her correctly, so I asked her to repeat what she just said. While she loves each and everyone of her progeny, she told me that she considers the children of her daughters to be her grand-babies, but her son's children she calls her grand-"maybes".

The question that I had in my head must have shown in my face, because Ms. Genevia explained to me that she has no doubts that when her daughters were pregnant, the children were surely theirs. On the other hand, the women who claimed to be pregnant by her sons ("claimed" is Ms. Genevia's word, not mine) could have had their children sired by her sons, but she doesn't take that for granted without DNA tests. I was informed that this way of thinking is much more common among women of her generation than most realize.

As I was trying to take this all in, Ms. Genevia went on to admit that although she was married for over half of her life (her husband has been deceased for 12 years), she has never been in love, and suffered through countless women claiming to be pregnant by her husband-presumably because Mr. Baxter was affluent. I can only suppose that Ms. Genevia believes that a woman will pick the man with the most money, whether he fathered her child or not. Even though Ms. Genevia seems to be resigned to believing that love never comes, I can't help but to feel sadness; sadness for her as well as the children she calls her Grand-"maybes". I truly hope that her love for them outweighs her suppositions.

*Loosely based on a real conversation