Pool Scandal

Apparently, Kristie riding her bike to water aerobics has elicited quite the little scandal among some of the 'ladies' at the pool.

After water aerobics on Monday, Kristie and I were about to leave the pool when a lady - who has rarely spoken to us ever - came up and asked Kristie, rather bluntly, "Who is your doctor?"

"Doctor Brown out of Grand Forks," Kristie replied.

"And he says it's alright for you to ride a bike?" she asked, almost shocked - as if Kristie was just taking a sip of beer.

"I don't see what the big deal is. I didn't even think to ask him. When I was pregnant with KoKo, I used to bike with Casey in a bike seat on the back."

"Well, we (and you just knew the scuttlebutt that this must have caused, for suddenly it just wasn't "I" but now "we" - must be a slow day on the gossip mill) was just wondering because my doctor told me that being pregnant would throw off my balance. So I asked so and so and she said her doctor also advised her not to ride a bike and so did another doctor. We were just wondering if you had heard anything different."

"Well, I don't know what could go wrong on our little four block ride from our house to the pool," Kristie said.

I was just waiting for the fireworks. It's not like this person was really concerned (note that she has never spoken to us before). She was almost gleeful at calling out our scandalous behavior.

"But," Kristie added, "I have a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, so I'll find out then."

Doctor Brown was in China, but we saw his nurse practitioner.

And the verdict?

Not a threat at all. Now if Kristie were, say, about to bike in the summer X games or go down the courthouse hill, that is a different story. But a leisurely bike ride is perfectly healthy.

So much for the big controversy.

But as irony would have it, as Kristie was relating the story to her boss at the bank, he was reminded of how the lady in question and her husband had come into the Spot (a local dive bar in town) with their kid in a stroller and began to smoke and drink after a softball game. Finally, someone took offense and chewed the hell out of the lady for bringing her infant into such an environment.

So maybe biking when pregnant isn't such a bad thing.

At least Kristie has some ammunition for the next time the lady in question asks how her visit to the doctor went. I believe her response will be something along the lines of "You know she didn't say a thing about biking but she did frown upon bringing your kid into a bar and smoking and drinking around them."

That's why I'm gland I'm a guy. We never get worked up about crap like that.