I must look like Dear Abby

I don't know why. I guess that's the usual theme from my posts.

I guess that I have an easy face to talk to, and people DO. I find out more stuff about people that I don't know, and not even the usual, "What do you do?" and "Where do you live?" I get the strangest, darkest, inner recesses. I never ask, people just offer the info. It's turned into a kinda joke, really, about how people feel the need to dump all their crap on me.

Ok, wait. Before I go into this, lemme go back. I had to go to an Advanced Electronic Imagery course a few years back. It was at Fort Meade, MD. At the time, I was stationed in Turkey and had to fly halfway around the world for this class. No biggie. It was winter and there was snow on the ground that had melted and re-frozen into ice. The first day of class, I realize that another girl in the class is staying at the same motel as I, and we decide to carpool so that only one of us each day has to deal with the crappy streets. That's no big deal. On the second day, after class, I tell her that I am going to the bar. She says that she wouldn't mind joining me. "Ok," I think, "at least I won't be the single girl at the bar."

OOPS.

We get to the bar an order a drink. We are sitting there waiting for the drink (this part is important because we hadn't had ANYTHING at this point. If we were loaded, then I might be able to use that as an excuse!). She asks me, "Do you have any children?"
At this point in my life, I had two.
"Yes," I say, "as a matter of fact, I have two."
I swear to GOD, that is all I said. She replies:
"Oh really? Two, huh? Well I am never having any kids. My mother was the worst mother in the entire world and I never, NEVER wanted to do to another child what my mother did to me. I wanted to get my tubes tied, but I was under thirty and the military wouldn't do it -- especially because I wasn't married, too -- so I had to go to, like, three or four meetings with counselors to make them understand that I didn't want kids and NEVER, EVER wanted kids. They finally let me get the operation, so I am never going to have kids. Even if I meet the perfect guy, I'll just get a cat or something, but no kids. Not me. Uh huh."

And I said, "What was your name again?"

But it happens. Rather often.