We settle into the couches and the conversation."Did I tell you I'm going to be a grandmother?" she asks.
"No," I reply, "Congratulations!"
"Yes, my son's girlfriend is pregnant and they've decided to have the baby."
How do I respond? Do I say: How wonderful, but it would've been just as wonderful if they had decided otherwise, or: How wonderful that we live in a time of so many choices, when we can choose to keep or not to keep, to have or not to have, to bear or not to bear.
Will our future coffee conversations include announcements of, "Did I tell you that I just missed being a grandmother this time around? My son's girlfriend is pregnant and they've decided not to have the baby. Their relationship is still too new." Will we all nod and murmur in agreement?
I recall another coffee conversation of how a gangly 14 year-old sat on his mother's lap, hugged her and thanked her, "for not getting rid of me, 'cos I know you could've."
I sip my coffee and let the conversation move past me.
