But every now and then, something happens to jolt me out of that belief. Yesterday afternoon was one of those instances. An African-American woman and her daughter, about 8 years old, were entering the Metro station. The woman was smoking, and I asked her to put out cigarette as we descended the escalator. This prompted an angry verbal barrage that included “Why don’t you go back to your country?”

Sadly, this is not the first time I’ve heard that, nor is it likely to be the last. And even more sad, this young girl is learning from her mom that it’s okay to make those kinds of hateful statements. In the back of my mind I wondered what would her reaction have been if I’d been in uniform?

When we were expecting, I was inclined to get an awesome nursery set up. Unfortunately, between moving and a complete lack of energy, I was lucky I got the crib set up before my due date. In the end, our crib (2 of them, since we were going to be splitting our time between 2 houses), was a $100 from Target, but the mattress was pure Cadillac. The dresser and changing table were second-hand.

In the end, our decision was the right one, because in her first 1.5 years, C barely set foot in her own room, and never spent the night! Her nice curtains, baby swing and dresser sat in there, while her crib and changing table were in our bedroom. Now she is in her “big girl room” and actually appreciates her decor.