Any mother can tell you that traveling with children is not for the faint of heart. For Molly Lensing, a mother of three from Illinois, this sound advice couldn’t be more accurate.
While traveling home from a trip to visit family, a photo of Molly and her then-two-month-old daughter was taken without her knowledge or permission.
The snapshot shows the mother taking a minute on her cell phone while waiting in the airport. Her newborn baby is (safely) lying on her back on the floor in front of her, and a stranger just happens to be looking at the baby during that split second in pure disgust.
Combined, all of those factors made for a mom-shaming opportunity like no other—one that framed Molly as a mom who is more interested in a piece of technology than her own baby.
The photo was rapidly posted and shared around the Internet, widely shaming Molly for caring less about her infant than she did her cell phone. Each retweeted post filled with more judgment than the last.
Untold in the viral meme is the backstory of how Molly and her two-month-old, Anastasia, found themselves stuck in Denver International Airport, waiting out a Delta Airlines computer shutdown.