Everyone whom I had told were happy for me, with the exception of one person, my mother of all people. She was on holiday at the time and I telephoned her to tell her that she was going to be a grandmother. However, there was no "congratulations" or "fantastic news". The first thing she said was "that was careless, what did you go and do that for?". I was was upset by that response, although I didn't let it show. That was not a reaction I had expected and far different to that of my auntie's when my cousin announced her happy news.
My mother had made me feel like a child again, as if I had done something wrong. She could be forgiven for saying these things had I been a teenager or in my early twenties, barely an adult or even unmarried, but I was 29 years old for goodness sake and had been married for 4 years! How dare she make me feel so small at this age. But that is the way that she has always been, always undermining everything anyone does and never happy with anything no matter how good it may seem. But that's another story...
I often wondered why she gave such a response; was it because my husband was not Chinese (she was dead against us being together from the start but has warmed to him by this time), or could it be that she never liked the idea of being a grandmother (she wasn't particularly old), or could it even be that she herself never wanted children and don't like children (I can honestly say that she never appeared to be a happy mother when I was growing up, I don't remember her smiling or laughing very much when my brother and I were young). Or maybe that she was simply having an off day at the time.
Fortunately, a few weeks later when I spoke to her again she was much more pleasant and as the weeks went on and my pregnancy progressed, she appeared to be more excited and looked forward to the arrival of the new grandchild.
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