Somebody Else's Problem

Life the Universe and Everything is The third book of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy "trilogy." It's probably my favorite of the five books. In this book, Douglas Adams describes a cloaking device known as an S.E.P. (Somebody Else's Problem). Actual invisibility, says the book, is expensive and nearly impossible. An S.E.P. relies on people's natural tendency to ignore things they're not ready to believe. In order to spot an S.E.P. you need to catch it by surprise, out of the corner of your eye.

The first question people ask when we tell them that we didn't know Kelly was pregnant is "how could you not know?" The answer is S.E.P. We weren't looking for it. The newest birth control pills keep women off their cycle for three months and the shots can last even longer!

Kelly had morning sickness and she thought it was a flu bug because people around her at work were getting sick. She also overlooked her elevated body temperature and headaches for the same reason. She'd even commented to me that her pants weren't fitting anymore. Neither are mine, so we both assumed that we'd been building up to our Winter weights again.

There are a few more personal details to this story. I'll leave out the graphic details because Kelly isn't screening this. I'm sure she'll gladly talk about these things ad-nauseum with any female readers of this blog.

After we found out, Kelly was checking herself in the mirror. She asked me if I'd noticed a symptom of pregnancy that one of her books mentioned. She didn't see it, but I laughed and said I'd noticed a week or two ago. I almost said something at the time, but I thought I was just imagining it. Had I said something, though, neither of us would've known what it meant.