Jenna Wolfe: The Balloon Never Exploded
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NBC's Jenna Wolfe did not know what to expect when she made the announcement on the Today Show that she was not only Gay, but she was also pregnant.
When she walked off the Today Show set after that announcement, she had no ideas what the feedback was going to be.
But, she expected the worst.
She is happy to say the worst never happened.
Wolfe writes on her Today Show blog a week ago today, I braved the murky waters of uncertainty and made a quiet little announcement on TODAY that my partner, NBC News foreign correspondent Stephanie Gosk, and I are expecting a baby. Remember when you were a kid and you’d toss a water balloon up in the air and then squeeze your eyes real tight with trepidation as you’d wait for it to explode? Well, I squeezed my eyes tight when I got off the set last week awaiting the balloon to break. I waited all day Wednesday, all day Thursday, all day Friday, all weekend and by Monday, when the balloon still hadn’t broken, I wondered if perhaps this balloon was strong enough to withstand any hard surface.
Turns out, it was.
I’m beyond elated to say that I was flooded with positive feedback, email after email offering kudos for the message and congrats for the pregnancy. I was patted on the proverbial back for telling my story, lifted up for my courage but then brought right back down to earth with questions of whether my work BFF Lester Holt is the baby’s father. (He’s not. Nor is Matt, nor Willie, nor Al ... so no more questions about that, please.)
Was there the occasional nasty note? Of course, but that’s fine. We’re all entitled to our opinion, as long as we’re not mean about it. I mean, am I totally annoyed by concert goers who hold up their bright iPhones right in front of me to record the live show they paid good money to attend? Yup, I am, but I’m not calling them at their work telling them how I feel. And don’t get me started on first-timers at Costco. But do I march up to those people and preach my religious views to them and their big empty carts going the wrong way down the aisle? That would be no. We can all opine till we’re blue in the face... but let’s color in the lines and play fair, shall we?
Bottom line, though, is that the vast majority of the emails, tweets and Facebook comments I’ve received have been wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to send a few words our way. They have not, will not and won’t ever go unnoticed or unappreciated.
