those public private moments

It was a six minute drive home, and two minutes in my nephew in the backseat had a total meltdown. He is 7 weeks old, so no explanation needed. I recently learned that its possible for babies to cry so hard they vomit, and I didn’t know if I could tolerate him screaming for the remaining duration of our trip. We were driving through a residential neighborhood so I decided to pullover and see what was going on.

Just like I would at home, I opened the trunk of the Prius and decided to bottle feed my nephew In the trunk. It was a nice crisp winter day in DC, so we were just hanging out - watching folks walk by with their strollers, and their dogs.

A dark SUV pulled up, and the driver parallel parked on the other side of the street. As he got out of the car, I saw he had a slight wedgie, and I could clearly see the shape of his butt, wearing joggers made out of that tracksuit material from the early 2000s. Door still ajar, he casually did a few calf raises. A few of them - maybe ten? He must have been trying to close some exercise ring or something.

He gets back in the car, and sits there for about six seconds. I’m watching him, wondering how he got this dent on the driver-side door. He starts the car and does a three point turn, and during the third point his car is pointing directly at us sitting in the trunk of the car. We make eye contact, and with the bottle and baby in hand, I give him a slight nod. He nods back. Then he drives away. He knows that I saw him do his calf raises, and vice versa us post meltdown in the trunk of the car.

Sometimes we all just need to take a little break. A little breather, and that is absolutely ok.