Monte

I apologize for my pessimism. Meeting James’ parents yesterday wasn’t as bad as I was afraid it would be. But I have to admit that my pessimism had stemmed from James’ horrifying descriptions of his family. It was his fault for getting me worked up over nothing.

As it turned out, his family was very accepting, granted it did take them four months to acknowledge me, but they were accepting nonetheless. In fact, I would dare say that his mother was socially outgoing towards me. And at the end of the evening, she gave me a warm hug and told me that I would always be welcome in their home. Even his grandmother, who James’ seemed to be the most worried about, liked me. She thanked me for coming and said she looked forward to seeing me again.

It’s nice to have finally passed that hurtle.

There was this one point in the day when James’ two nieces were playing with a magna-doodle on the floor of the living room. James walked by, and with no hesitation, he plopped down beside the two of them and joined them in their drawing. The two little girls looked up at him with big smiles on their faces, and the three of them laughed and played together. I watched James from the couch, and I felt a soft a pain in my chest. I smiled down at him even though I knew he couldn’t see me. I felt the pain in my chest move to my throat. It felt like swallowing a stone.

Seeing him with his nieces, and seeing the simplicity and essence of his love made me realize why I love him so much.