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The Tempest

By Anonymous

Well, my tongue is not bleeding. Things are actually going quite well- I've been working, JP has been coaching and attending investor and company meetings, and Landon has been followed and adored as though he is the sun and my in-laws must orbit (very, very closely) around him. I've held back multiple times on explaining the concept of personal space and the fact that even though Landon is little, he is still a Person and deserves to go five seconds without being touched, patted, and/or smothered. But he's a trouper and they don't see him much so as long as he doesn't look freaked out I'll continue to hold my tongue. It helps that I'm gone all day, and that I know despite any other failings and irritations they love Landon very, very much.

I did have one interesting exchange during the first hour they were in our house. JP's grandmother is 92 and has lived with them since her second husband died when he was in 7th grade. She is very blunt, frequently cruel, and always colorful. When JP's parents were upstairs fawning over Landon, she sat down on the couch across from me and said, "So, what do you think of the gays?"

I shot JP a look of WTF combined with Help! and a dash of Here we go... JP, who was safely esconced in the study, replied with smug amusement and a "You knew what you were getting into when you married me" shrug of the shoulders. And because I did and we are now legally joined in a union no grandmother can put asunder- and because I kind of enjoy the fact that I am not what his grandmother thinks I should be, the conversation continued something like this:

Me, amused: What do you mean?

GIL: Well, you know, marriage!!

Me: You mean, do I think they should be allowed to?

GIL: [nods]

Me: Yes, I think in a country that purposefully separates church and state, with a government that has decided to regulate marriage as a civil matter and grant a host of benefits along with it, they have to be allowed to.

GIL: But then they can have children!

Me: They already can- anyone can have children, you don't have to be married. If anything, allowing marriage helps those children by showing some acceptance and legitimacy for their family and extending those civil benefits that come with it.

GIL: Hmph. One of my friend's daughters is.. [whisper] gay [/whisper] and she has a daughter!

Me: Okay... well, she can do that.

GIL: Hmph. I don't like it.

Me: Well, I guess it's a good thing we don't get to control what other people do based on what we like.

[pause]

GIL: Is Landon potty trained yet?

And with that, she declared victory and I went into the study to pantomine the act of strangeling someone to a greatly amused JP.

Today Landon is taking an Austin Duck Adventures Tour with his grandparents and since three of his favorite words are Duck, Wawa, and Boat, it should be a big hit. I will continue to work a lot, be a gracious, constantly cleaning hostess who does not initiate political discussions but will respond to them, and spend a lot of time drinking wine and kicking warnings to JP under the table at dinner. Given past experiences, things couldn't be going much better!

Full post as published by Lag Liv on June 09, 2009 (boomark / email).