After Sheva Brochos
Chani picked up the phone in her newly decorated apartment.
There were boxes, wrapped and still unwrapped, lying all
around.
"Giti? Is that you? I'm so glad to be able to speak to you.
Everything that you said is true. Being married is so much
fun... and a bit hard. Any more tips? After all, you've been
married already almost a half a year. I just want to tell you
thanks for everything. You've been the best friend a girl
could have. Oh, I think Shmuel is coming in now. I'll talk to
you some other time."
One month after the wedding
"Hi Giti. Yeah, it's me Chani. How are you feeling these
days? Are you still throwing up? Your mother has been sending
you vegetable soup and that's helping? I'll try to keep that
in mind. It sounds awful to be feeling sick. My sisters-in-
laws never told me that they were always feeling so horrible.
It could be they were different or maybe they didn't want to
confide in their husband's little sister. Maybe now that I'm
also married, they won't think of me as such a baby. Mommy
has been a litttle funny. I guess it's all the excitement
from marrying off her first daughter. I better get off the
phone. I don't want to burn Shmulie's dinner, like I did two
nights ago."
Five months after the wedding
"Giti, I just don't get it. Most of my friends go to their
mother's house regularly for Shabbos, but Mommy keeps saying
she's not up to it. The first year that the boys were married
she had them over all the time. Maybe she's just getting old?
I guess I should be mature about it; after all, my sisters-in-
laws have been really sweet about having us over. And we do
go quite often to my in-laws, but somehow it's not the
same....
"Thanks for being so understanding, Giti. I knew that I could
count on you. Mommy just seems so distracted lately and
tired. I guess she is getting excited over Yanky's bar mitzva
next month. He is the baby of the family. Soon she'll
hardly see him, with such a long day at Yeshiva. I wonder if
it's really hard on her."
Six months after the wedding
"You're my best friend, so of course I can finally tell you.
It's been so hard keeping it a secret. B'H, I'm not feeling
so awful anymore. You were right about everything you said.
Soon I'll have to buy some new clothes but so far I'm still
able to get into my own for the next little while. Maybe we
can go shopping together but I guess you won't be needing
anything else since you are due so soon. Isn't that
exciting?
"Wasn't Yanky's bar mitzva beautiful? The decorations and the
food were fantastic. Everyone looked fabulous. All the little
nieces and nephews were so adorable! But did you noticed that
Mommy seems to have put on some weight? I thinks it's from
the wedding and sheva Brochos and then there was a
Kiddish for Menachem's baby daughter and all the other
simchos, k'neina hara. I think Mommy just hasn't had
time to get back to herself. It all seems to be tiring her
out so much. I've seen her dozing off to sleep while reading
her YATED. She never does that!"
Seven months after the wedding
"Giti! Mazel Tov! A little baby daughter. I'm sure she's
gorgeous. I can't wait to see her. Who does she look like?
Everyone says something else? I'm sure she's just a little
princess. Shmuel is rooting for a boy. He says that everyone
in the family has made a pidyon haben. That's pretty
unusual, isn't it?
"I was hoping that we would be able to go shopping together
and here you went and had your baby early. I'm just glad it
is over for you and everyone is healthy and well. Do you
think I should ask Mommy to go shopping with me. She hated to
go when I was a teenager but now it's different. This is
something totally new. No matter what, I've been pushing this
off far too long. Nothing fits anymore. I practically spend
all my time in my robe. At least I work from the house. But
you gave me good advice on where to go. The baby is fretting?
OK, I'll talk to you when it's a good time for you. Get a lot
of rest. Bye."
The Next Week
"Well I can't put this off anymore," Chani said to herself.
She had wanted to go looking for clothes with Giti, but she
was clearly unavailable for the next few weeks. She could
have asked one of her sisters-in-laws, but somehow they all
seem so business-like in the way they went about doing
things. They didn't have time to sit and compare which shade
of pink would look best. They were so busy with their own
families.
Chani really had been hoping that her mother would join her
but she'd said it wouldn't work out. She wasn't feeling so
well. Lately Mommy hadn't been feeling well a lot. Maybe
Chani should strongly suggest that her mother go see a
doctor. Maybe she should talk to Daddy about what is going
on. Daddy had been a little bit strange himself, lately. A
little dazed. "Maybe they really are beginning to age," Chani
thought.
Chani pushed opened the door of the store that her good
friend, Giti, had recommended. "This is a whole new
ballpark," Chani thought to herself. "How will I even know if
anything will looks nice?" she worried. Chani looked around
the store. She took a few things off the racks, with the help
of a sales lady, and made her way to the back of the store to
try them on. Standing in the cramped room, she could hear
someone else in the next cubicle. Chani hesitantly made her
way out of her own cubicle to see how she looked in the
mirror. Not looking where she was going, Chani banged into
the woman coming out of the other cubicle. Chani looked up
and saw a woman standing in a two-piece outfit.
With a shock, Chani yelped, "Mommy, what are you doing
here?"
The other woman turned a few different shades of red and
said, "Why the same thing as you, my dear daughter. Trying on
clothes."
