My daughter lie in bed, staring up at me from her pillow, and asked me how long until the wedding.
"Saturday sweety. Only two more sleeps," I replied.
"Yay! Finally!" was her excited reply.
“Oh if only she knew,” I thought quietly to myself.
No... it’s not that the happy couple took their sweet time. No, it’s not that we’ve been involved in the wedding and are worn out from the months of planning.
The wedding is for J and T, friends, women, I’ve kept in touch with since we met in Catholic school years ago. My children, 8 and 9 years old, didn’t ask a single question, didn’t raise a shocked eyebrow, didn’t giggle nervously, when we explained that the invitation was to J and T’s wedding. They were just excited.
This has struck me as yet another of the huge disparities between my knowledge of society, and the knowledge they will have growing up. They simply are not growing up in the same place I did.
And I’m glad they don’t know. I’m glad they don’t know why it took so long for J and T to get married. I’m glad they don’t know the scorn, the guilt, heaped on them by family, by classmates, by society, at various stages of their lives. I’m glad they won’t know the fight that homosexuals went through in our country, and have so far lost in others, for the right to engage in the ritual of marriage, and more importantly legal union, with the person they love. I’m thrilled that they will likely grow up finding it normal to see people loving who they love, without fear of death, or legal repercussion.
If only they knew.
"Saturday sweety. Only two more sleeps," I replied.
"Yay! Finally!" was her excited reply.
“Oh if only she knew,” I thought quietly to myself.
No... it’s not that the happy couple took their sweet time. No, it’s not that we’ve been involved in the wedding and are worn out from the months of planning.
The wedding is for J and T, friends, women, I’ve kept in touch with since we met in Catholic school years ago. My children, 8 and 9 years old, didn’t ask a single question, didn’t raise a shocked eyebrow, didn’t giggle nervously, when we explained that the invitation was to J and T’s wedding. They were just excited.
This has struck me as yet another of the huge disparities between my knowledge of society, and the knowledge they will have growing up. They simply are not growing up in the same place I did.
And I’m glad they don’t know. I’m glad they don’t know why it took so long for J and T to get married. I’m glad they don’t know the scorn, the guilt, heaped on them by family, by classmates, by society, at various stages of their lives. I’m glad they won’t know the fight that homosexuals went through in our country, and have so far lost in others, for the right to engage in the ritual of marriage, and more importantly legal union, with the person they love. I’m thrilled that they will likely grow up finding it normal to see people loving who they love, without fear of death, or legal repercussion.
If only they knew.
