The New Normal

Over on Parenting.com, a lesbian mom of twins relates her initial trepidation when another mother of twins sits down next to her at the airport.

"No, we're not sisters,” I say, as I have hundreds of times before (Emily and I do look somewhat similar). “We're partners.” My new friend brightens and says, “Oh, who carried?” Who carried?! After I tell her that it was me who carried, we swap birth stories. Her husband leans over to tell Emily that he gained 25 pounds worth of sympathy weight. “Did you have the same problem?” he asks. Clearly, the only person there with any judgments or preconceived notions was me. I shouldn't have been surprised. In the five years that Em and I have been married (no, it's not legal), and in the three and a half years since we had the boys, that's pretty much the way it's gone. We've received nothing but love, support, or, surprisingly, plain old indifference from friends, family, and strangers. That apathy says a lot about how much a part of the social fabric we have become. Truth be told, we're neither sensational nor worth remarking upon. We're just the New Normal.