Things I learn from Joseph Smith

Prophets are a difficult facet of Mormonism for me for several reasons, and Joseph Smith is no exception. My favorite Joseph Smith story doesn't have much to do with him being a prophet, but has a great deal to do with him being a good person. The story goes that a poor man's house burned down, and a few men were standing around saying that they were sorry for the man who had lost his home to fire. Joseph pulled out $5 and said "I feel sorry for this brother to the amount of five dollars. How much do you all feel sorry?"

That came to mind yesterday as I responded to a friend's message about her 11-month nephew who has a high-risk cancer and whose parents can't make rent. "I'm so sorry," I wrote. And then I thought about Joseph Smith, and I couldn't just leave it at words.

unexpected expectations

It made some sense that when I mentioned to my mother-in-law that I was feeling dizzy and tired earlier this week, she wondered if I might be pregnant. It made some sense that when a waitress saw me picking at my food the other night, she wondered the same thing. But it was entirely too much today when a TOTAL STRANGER said matter-of-factly upon meeting me, "yep, you're expecting!" "Well, no," I said, and then, to alleviate the awkwardness of the situation, added, "but I did recently give birth." Yeah, if 3 months ago counts as recent enough for me to still look pregnant, which it doesn't! I am not pregnant! I even bought a pregnancy test, because all these comments were messing with my mind; negative. Thank goodness. I am so far from ready to face another pregnancy that if I really were pregnant, I would be spending copious amounts of time crying about it. But I'm not.

So why does everyone think I am?