Babies
When Kathleen told Dr A (her fantastic therapist) that Miss G would be bringing home a boyfriend, for the very first time, for dinner on Sunday, Dr A had Dr A-worthy advice.
She said: "The whole point of the first meeting is to have a second meeting."
That is so effing true. Just staying friendly enough to see one another again really is the outcome every sane potential father-in-law ought to have in mind. And thanks to a message on the machine that talks about getting together soon, I think we achieved the objective.
There are drawbacks. My mother-in-law, who takes her inspiration from Lady Bracknell, was quite upset that Kathleen couldn't tell her either The Beau's age or the name of his alma mater. "What do you mean, you didn't ask?" she railed. Kathleen, armed with Dr A's fortitude, bore the contumely in patience. I was spared. Sort of. Ms NOLA and M le Neveu were delighted to learn that we plan to have them on hand when next we next meet Ms G and The Beau. "You're going about this all wrong," said M le Neveu. How, I asked. "Because they'll tell us." he larked.
You have options in this life. You can feel empty about the meaningless of existence. Or you can have babies whose diapers need to be changed. One of the great things that happened during my lifetime, unquestionably, was that men took up changing the diapers. That's why I'm still here.
Comments
Best of luck with the daughters new beau. As someone who is on the second son-in-law, just remember, it's their (your child's) life not yours. I may not be crazy about my daughter's husband, but he's her husband not mine. On the bright side, he's a vast improvement over husband #1.
Posted by: Tony | February 21, 2007 06:22 AM
I agree with Tony's post, but must add that my father was happy that he had three sons of varying ages and temperment to his one daughter. We could grill, torture, embarass and threaten the would-be beaux of our sister; weeding out the deadwood long before my father had to deal with them on any kind of level. It was a useful vetting process.
Posted by: LXIV | February 21, 2007 02:25 PM
Change diapers, feed, bathe, rock, walk, ... all that stuff, don't all fathers do that, it never occurred to me to differently?
Posted by: George | February 23, 2007 08:58 PM