Good Wives

We invited Dad and Bunny over for pizza last night, and to our surprise they ended up staying until nearly 11 o'clock. I have really enjoyed their visit this week, but my enjoyment is mostly thanks to Bunny.

Dad and I have an odd relationship. Come to think of it, Dad has an odd relationship with just about everyone in the family. During his visit last June, I wrote about some of the issues, and I won't reiterate them here. Suffice it to say that, although Dad and I can talk about books and movies indefinitely, sharing as we do similar taste, we do not relate on a personal level. I feel toward him as one might feel toward an acquaintance of long standing--concern, mild interest, and general goodwill--but nothing more meaningful than that. I do not have the kind of love for him that I do for my mother.

Sometimes I feel guilty for not feeling closer to him, but then I remember how he treated us: my mother, my sisters, and me. Actually, he's probably fortunate that he has any kind of relationship with his daughters at all, given his parenting.

Yesterday Dad and Bunny spent most of the day working on the basement of Nana's house, removing piles of junk. It was a dirty, tiring, depressing job, and today they needed a break. This morning Dad went over to his brother's house. My uncle Jim was supposed to help Dad install a new hard drive in his computer. Bunny was at loose ends, so I invited her over this morning to hang out with the twins and me. She accepted with alacrity.

She ended up spending all morning with us. I picked her up after I dropped Daniel off at school and brought her home. Stephen and Matthew were thrilled to have someone who colored and drew with them, and she seemed to enjoy it, too. Bunny doesn't have any grandchildren of her own yet, but she loves being a step-grandmother to Dad's grandkids. She had brought her camera with her and wanted to document everything, from our morning reading lesson to the walk we took around the neighborhood, with the twins wearing their helmets and riding on their training wheel bikes.

She even accompanied us on our weekly visit to the library. The twins proudly showed her the kids' area, and she helped them select books while I picked up some easy readers for Daniel. On the drive to the library and back, she told me about her sons and about her youngest son's fiancée, whom she loves. Then she said how grateful she feels to have been accepted by my sisters and me, not to mention my mother. "I just love you girls and Barbara and Jake," she said, actually tearing up a little.

Well, goodness, how can you not like someone so sweet? The only thing I don't understand is how my father was fortunate enough to marry not one woman but two women who are too good for him. It's one of those mysteries of life, I guess.

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