I’m a little competitive, okay that may be an understatement but when coupled with my vanity it makes for a volatile combination. I don’t appear to be overly concerned about my appearance and try not to be, but I am, which may surprise a lot of you. I have found myself recently going for walks, I enjoy it and so do Wrigglebot and Squirm. It seems these days that every km I walk I see at least three other mothers with prams, and what do I do? I have to beat them, to pass them, even though they don’t know they are in a race. The only people I don’t attempt to pass when I am on a walk are runners, casual runners I might try, but definitely not the ones with the running shorts or lycra, they intimidate me just by their attire.
So anyway back to the mothers with prams who I pass, and I do always pass them, I have found myself going through a little process each time. As I approach I look at the mother, does she look fit, back to her pre-birth weight, is she labouring from the walk? Then as I pass I glance in the pram at the child and make a quick estimate on the age of the child. If the child is older than my youngest and the mother doesn’t look quite as fit as me then I feel good as I power walk away from them,it makes me smile, and if by chance I don’t come out so flatteringly in my assessments then it just makes me walk faster.
Now I know this all sounds incredibly vain and conceited but I honestly think most people do these basic comparisons they just don’t own up to them. Don’t they?