A Strange Conversation

I am not, by nature, someone who loves dusting (or even necessarily notices when something needs dusting). But because I was raised by a woman who finds things to clean in a room I have spent two hours cleaning, I know how to clean a house. But with all the inspections and potential strangers who will wander randomly through my home that foster care entails, I decided to treat myself to a professional deep cleaning. Late this afternoon, a woman from the agency I had found (thanks to a recommendation from my resourceful, thorough, and discriminating sister, Beth) arrived to tour my house and give me an estimate. All of which is an overly long preamble to the following conversation(s).

Lady, upon entering the space-themed upstairs bedroom: "So is this a guest room or a children's room?"
Me, slightly flustered from the awkwardness of giving a tour of my house to a stranger: "Um, right now it's a guest room. But it will be a children's room."
Lady: look of utter bewilderment, politely masked.

Lady, downstairs now and still clearly puzzled: "So how many adults live in the home?"
Me, unsure of how to fit the correct answers to the not-quite-asking-that questions: "Just one."
Lady, after a confused pause: "And children...?"
Me, still flummoxed, as introverts are, at how to talk to this excessively polite stranger touring my home: "None. But in a few weeks there may be some. Do I need to keep you guys updated on that?"
Lady's face says clearly: "She's not pregnant, no ring, no other adults in the house...????"
Lady's mouth politely responds: "Oh no... we just try to gauge usage, wear and tear..." her voice fades out as she fails to find a polite way of saying "we need to know how much mess there will be to clean."
Me: "How much mess there'll be?" Awkward giggle.

Finally, we walk through the 'dining room' and into the kitchen. She passes the clearly labeled "Foster Parent Training Manual" that sits near the dining room table. Her expression clears and the rest of our conversation is conducted amicably and without confusion though still accompanied by excessive politeness on her end and failed attempts at chumminess on mine.

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Could I have avoided this whole thing by simply explaining up front? Of course. Is it in my nature to self-disclose so many personal details to a stranger? Not so much, no.

Honestly, I hadn't even anticipated the conversation. The boys' room (I can't help thinking of it like that) is so clearly a room for kids that it is weird to call it a guest room (it's obviously not a guest room). [I have a whole other post to write about that room and what has happened to it, but I'm waiting til I have pictures.] But to me it all makes sense, and I hadn't thought how weird it would look to a stranger. It looked kind of weird before (there were fairies hanging in the windows), so I guess it's more that I don't really show strangers around my house ever.

Anyway. I wasn't fazed by the conversation, just kind of bemused and helpless to clarify as it unfolded. I found it all pretty funny, and I'm hoping I didn't discomfit the agency woman too much. It's not a common scenario, after all, though I wish it were!