So here's a story example
of why I think so many women today are putting themselves first
over having kids and starting a family and getting married.
So about six months ago, I was working at this garden center,
and it's, like,
2 p m. On a Tuesday.
This guy comes in. He's my only customer,
and he just looks very visibly confused,
um, lost.
And so I go up to him, like,
can I help you with anything?
And he goes, yeah,
it's my wife's birthday, and I just, like,
don't know what to get her.
I know she likes plants. Would you, like,
pick something out for her?
And I was like, yeah.
Like, what's your budget?
And he goes, $50.
I was like, have you ever picked out a gift for your wife,
dude? Like, Jeez.
And so I pick out this fully blooming hydrangea and, like,
a pretty decorative pot, and I just set the hydrangea pot in.
In the pretty pot, and I'm like,
you can put this on the dining room table.
She can, like,
keep it there till the blooms die,
and then she can, like,
plant it in a shady spot in the yard.
Right. And so he picks it,
he takes it, puts it on the counter,
no questions asked. I check him out,
and right before he goes to pay,
he's like, uh,
I don't know if she's gonna want this.
I was like, this is a great gift.
She's Gonna love this. If my boyfriend brought this home for me,
I would flip out. He's like I just don't know.
Like I don't know what kind of plant she wants.
And he goes do you guys have gift cards?
I was like yeah. And he goes,
well let me just get a gift card so she can pick out what she wants.
And I was like okay. So I'm like you want a 50 dollar gift card?
He goes, no, let's make it forty.
So I was like okay, so I check out a 40 dollar gift card
and he goes, could I leave this up here with you
so that she can come pick out what she wants after work?
And I was like, I think it'd be more meaningful.
I was like you can, but I think be more meaningful if you had this
like waiting at home for her,
like in a card or something
so that you guys can come back and pick it out together.
And he was like, yeah,
well, if she doesn't come get it today,
like she doesn't come pick up her gift card,
she's never gonna find the time to come up here
and pick out what she wants.
And so I was like, yeah,
I mean, you can leave it up here,
that's fine. So he leaves.
Many hours go by. It's like towards closing time.
I think we like 15 minutes until we closed.
This mini van pulls Up into our parking lot,
and it's this woman. She's in full scrubs.
She proceeds to unload her,
like, three or four children right into strollers.
They're, like,
all under the age of six. She pulls up inside,
and she walks up to the counter.
I could tell she had been crying.
She looks very visibly upset.
And she was like, I think my husband left a gift card up here for me.
My name is Victoria. I was like,
yeah, it's right here.
And she goes, how much is on it?
And I said, 40.
And she goes, great.
And so she then proceeds to pick out
literally exactly what I picked out.
I think the pot was, like,
slightly different, but she picks out a hydrangea in a pot,
and she goes to pay.
She it like, it wasn't all covered by the gift card.
It would have been if she.
If he done 50. But she pays with the gift card,
and she pays, like,
three extra dollars with her card.
And I could tell she was gonna struggle to get it out to her car.
She was, like,
pushing a stroller, and she had all these kids running around.
So it's like, let me take this out for you.
And she goes, oh, no,
like, that's okay.
I know you're about to close.
I was like, I really don't mind.
So I go out with her to her car.
She's struggling to get her kids loaded.
Up in the car, she's struggling to, like,
open the trunk, and I'm just standing there with her,
her hydrangea, and she opens the trunk,
and there's, like, strollers,
all these toys. And she's like,
oh, my gosh,
I'm so embarrassed. Like,
my car so messy. I was like,
you're fine. And so she clears this little space.
I put her hydrangea down. I was like,
well, I hope you have a great rest of your day.
Like, I hope your birthday goes well.
And she looks at me, and she just immediately starts tearing up.
And she looks at me, and she goes,
he couldn't have just picked this out himself.
He had to make me come do it.
And I was like, I'm so sorry.
And I literally think about that woman, like,
once a month, because that is so many women's reality right now.
And, like,
just working in customer service for the time that I did,
I saw so many women being treated like that by their husbands.
And it's just, like,
it's everywhere.
And so I think so many girls my age are looking around like, oh,
I don't wanna go through that.
And so they're choosing to, like,
either get married and not have kids or not get married
or choosing to be single. And, yeah, I.
I really believe that that's a huge factor
in why we have such a significant decline in our birth rate anyway.