"Hi!
Sorry I'm late..." began my older son, Daniel, barging expertly
into the house.
I had observed his barges for years; the
apology was a welcome sign of maturity and family focus. I had forgotten what
he was late for, but forgiveness would come.
I reflected on his many
leavetakings—dress rehearsals for the time when his presence would signify a
visit, not a return—and how his focus had moved away from Marlene and myself.
From a nearly housebound child, mumbling
unintelligibly to his toy friends, Daniel had made the healthy transformation
into a homeless teen, mumbling unintelligibly to his boy friends. Our house,
once his anchor, had become his...anchor, and he bounced off it with the
shallow trajectory that they feared would send Apollo 13 away forever.
But now our young adult had evolved, into
a virtual marriage with Emily. And it was confusing.
Marlene and I had each replaced the
other's parents as chief focus, and we saw a version of this being played out
right before our eyes. A parallel marriage in our kitchen.
Our late night conversations with Daniel
were often reduced to inadvertent (more or less) eavesdropping. Our ears
twitched, like our cats, as doors squeaked in the hazy interface of late night
and early morning, and furtive giggles wafted up the stairs.
Since we didn't disapprove of either her
or their relation, it was stealth without resistance. But we had become objectified
observers—tangential, replaced. From a Freudian perspective, we were becoming
chopped liver.
Their relation was inner focused and
self-sufficient. She had become IT.
Here, with all the transient permanence
of youth, were moving snap shots (from farther and farther away) of his future;
not necessarily with Emily, but with someone. Someone else.
But hers was a paradoxical and confusing
presence. We knew that his temporary domestication was largely her doing—she
had expanded us faster than he could outgrow us. She was a competing
gravitational field temporarily docked at our launch site; a stranger, guest,
honored guest, daughter-surrogate, girl friend in-law. For Daniel, our place
had become a home away from home. She was faultless, but we were jealous.
Ah, but here he was, apologizing for his
lateness. And barging in, like the old days. And when he
barges, he ours.
Better late than never, I thought, with pride of authorship. Emily and I exchanged looks that
reflected mutual affection for our tardy boy.
"That's OK..." I said, dropping
a parental glance, the glint of prerogative, at Emily, just before realizing
that, naturally, he wasn't apologizing to me.