confessions of a nonlinearmind

So Dad’s getting engaged

My dad came over today to watch football. All during the first half, I sensed that he had something to say to me and he finally did at halftime.

“I’m going to ask Gail to marry me.”

Gail would be the woman he’s been seeing for the past six months. He’s only been separated from my mom for 18 months and the ink on their divorce papers dried only two weeks ago.

“Don’t you think it’s a little too soon?” I asked.

My dad has always been logical to a fault. Never one to make rash decisions. Always the voice of reason. He himself acknowledges that it probably is too soon. He plans to ask her New Year’s Eve, just as the ball drops. He booked an expensive hotel room with an open view to the ball. They’ve already gone engagement ring shopping, where he dropped $15,000 on a ring.

I asked him why the rush, the two of them were going to be around for a while. What could they do married that they couldn’t do as a couple? He threw out some sort of thing about morality and how it wouldn’t be right to live with her unless they were married. I called bullshit on that. “But you two are already sleeping together.”

He laughed and acknowledged that that wasn’t the real reason. He is in love. He said, “if you knew how we felt about each other…”

“I know exactly how you feel about each other,” I countered, “I’ve felt that way with six different people in my life!”

He’s only felt that way once before, when he married my mom, which is why I know that there is no reasoning with someone who’s in love. They’ll ask your advice, but never follow it if it is counter to what they desire.

I honestly have no problem with him getting engaged and married. I just want him to be happy and I wasn’t objecting strongly to his reasoning. It was just funny to see our roles reversed, I being pragmatic and he following his heart.