Admittedly, I had a slightly easier time of it than my parents did when I was young. The kind of young man I dated was largely unemployed, enjoyed a twice-daily doobie, and thought Austria was home to kangaroos. Despite my dubious dating history, I did find an upstanding young man to call my own and thought I’d done well.
The curse came home to roost the day my daughter announced she was moving out of my arms and moving in with her Marine boyfriend. This was the same news I had dropped in my parents’ lap just 18 years before, and damned if I didn’t feel in my chest what I had earlier dismissed seeing in theirs: a sinking heart. I moved to the other side of the country and left my mother in a heap of tears. My father seemed unmoved by the whole thing, but I would later realize he was not so much unmoving as stricken.
Alas, there I was, sobbing, propped up by little more than my husband’s reassurances that our daughter would be just fine. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my daughter’s boyfriend. An Eagle Scout and meritoriously promoted to Corporal, he treated my child like a queen. Unfortunately for my heart, soul, and ovaries, he didn’t live on the other side of the country. He lived on the other side of the world. Curses.
As the older two sit securely in college — for now anyway — and our youngest begins her descent into teenagery, I am forever tormented by the memory of things I’ve done. I know my kids already have and will likely again partake of the same potpourri bowl of life’s thrills that I used to swim in. I can only hope that, despite the curse, everyone comes out smelling like rose petals.
Article comments
1 - Brad Schader
The curse is why I have yet to have kids. I remind my parents about their cursing of me every time they ask why they have no grandchildren.
2 - Marlon
Spot on once again dear Diana. And I am deeply honored to be quoted by you.
hugs!
P.S. Thanks for the laughing baby, I sorely needed that right now.