okay, if you don’t know us all that well, you’re probably thinking “wtf? why does a coffee shop know or care that you’re pregnant.”

well, you see, this is that starbucks i was telling you about earlier. the one we go to 5 or more times a week (every weekday morning, basically, plus a few random trips in the afternoons/weekends), where a very good friend works (who, as i’ve said, really should know, but i haven’t told), with a staff that’s really working the brand image of everyone knowing you and knowing your name and such. and yes, while i know they get paid to serve us *and* makes us feel like friends, they’re still folks i know, who are on the list of people who get to be told, and will probably be very enthusiastic about the whole thing, like real friends who don’t make you tasty beverages for a small fee.

however, and i *knew* this would happen, they figured it out. it wasn’t too hard. you just had to notice that instead of my daily 2-3 shot filled drink i’d started slipping down to a 1 shot (half-caf), or a chai tea and such over the last week or so. i’d gotten by for a while, mixing it up with baristas, but today i was in the mood for my caramel macchiato and i ordered it de-caf.

one does not order a caramel macchiato decaffeinated at 8:30 in the morning from a friend who knows better when the store manager is marking the drink without someone raising an eyebrow or two. they both did, one after the other. fortunately they were both subtle enough about confirming their suspicions that the members of our party that were not in on the secret did not catch on…or at least the party members were polite enough not to say anything.

which is good because many people from our office visit that starbucks, and i’d like to stay in control of the information for as long as possible. fortunately we won’t be back in the office until after the doctor’s appointment, and assuming everything goes well, we’ll be telling folks anyway.