I sprouted about three new gray hairs yesterday, when Mom told me that my former
babysittee, is engaged to be married. (Side note: she also told me that she's
still consistently exercising three days a week and has lost 17 pounds. She even
ergs. Go Mom!) (Other side note: I think my cubemate at work is about the age of
Former Babysittee. Make that four new gray hairs.)
I immediately
called FB's parents to get the full scoop. Their house down the block was a refuge
in my own stormy adolescence. She was matron of honor at my wedding (in company
with the maid of honor and man of honor, my other two attendants) and he made the
rehearsal memorable by providing live harmonica blues. I really ought to give them
noms... uh, Harpman and Lo J.
I'm not really all that close to FB and
his younger brother FB2 these days, because I moved away to college when they were
about 8 and 5, but they've turned out well, still recognizably the same people
they were as small boys, and I like to keep up on their major events. Also, though
I fall about in the middle between Harpman and Lo J and their kids, Lo J has a
brother a year older than I am. We were in several classes together and were also
good friends throughout high school and after, until he married spectacularly
badly. And I mean spectacularly: it's a long story but she's now under house
arrest. He was lucky enough not to be given any time; apparently the judge thought
being married to her (and they still are) was its own punishment. So I was a bit
anxious about FB's choice of a wife.
From what Lo J says, though,
he's emulated his other uncle, the one whose wife is a wonderful person who
respects her husband's family as well as her own (FB's fiancˇe and the uncle's
wife even have the same first name). They met online but are not rushing into
anything. They'll have lived together for over a year by the time of the ceremony.
She's comfortable with his family, he likes hers, and though he's always been
extremely reserved, FB is visibly (at least to his mother) happy around her. So,
good; he's a nice kid (well, not a kid now) and I wish him and his family all the
happiness they deserve.
But I still feel old now.
Is
this the little boy I carried?
Is this the little girl at play?
I don't
remember growing older,
When did they?