Late on the trend

I forgot about these! I made one back in June when seemingly everyone was doing it but never got around to posting it. She was still saved, though, frozen in time – eight months’ pregnant, with longer, darker hair, wearing a tank top, gauchos and flip-flops and carrying a Burberry bag. I had to smile, because that was my weekend uniform in my last weeks of pregnancy. I did resemble that girl.

But I don’t anymore. Pregnancy already feels like a distant memory. I miss my belly. I liked the way it felt, round and solid and always close, and the way it looked. I liked when people commented on it, even if some of the comments were invasive or stupid. I liked watching it when the baby would start to kick. I always think “the baby” when I remember the belly. It’s hard to make an association between the Olivia I know now and the little being who used to perform acrobatics in my midsection then. Right after I gave birth I was secretly convinced I’d never do it again, but now I know I will. The excruciating hip pain I felt when rolling over in bed, the swelling in my feet and ankles, the wet spots that would spontaneously appear on my shirt, the intimate relationship I had with a squeeze bottle—also a distant memory. Well, maybe not so distant.

Anyway, this is the current me. There’s casual on-the-go me, trying to maneuver the infant carrier without spilling my mocha latte on my jacket. There’s work me, leveraging high-impact integrative solutions to achieve strategic business results. And there’s bumming around the house me, washing bottles and thinking about making some Dreamfields spaghetti with aioli and grated parmesan-romano-asiago cheese (YUM).