My Mom's boyfriend is 32. She is, as you may have guessed, well, older than him. And that's ok I guess. Lord knows men have been doing it long enough. My brother can't really deal with the situation but I find it to fit in well with my mother's whole aura. She's always been a feminist and an unconventional saint, taking in misfits, filling them with alcohol, and then inviting my brother and I over for a family reunion. Our reaction is usually, "um mom, who are these people....?" We might not know them but THEY KNOW US... and they always come over and ask us the most intimate questions.... and we're like, "what did you say your name was????"
Mom's boyfriend "Brad" is so-so. I don't dislike him in any sense of the word... but I just don't get him. He's about as exciting as dry toast (in the era before the Atkins and South Beach diets had people eating bread in their closets in the middle of the night). When I am glaring at him and staring him up and down... it's not rage I am expressing, it's confusion.... But, in the spirit of O'Henry, there is always a twist... and in this case her name is Katelin. She is Brad's four year old daughter. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She loves to sing. She knows every word to every song on the album I released last year. When she laughs her little nose wrinkles and gets pink. She makes funny faces. She has tea parties and sings all day long. She makes being an adult a tragedy.
I was in Orlando for Christmas when I first met Katelin. My brother had already warned me that my mother was in love with Brad's daughter. He rolled his eyes when he said there were dolls, tiny shoes and tea sets all over my mother's house. And sure enough, when I opened the closet in the guest room to put my suitcase in, there was no room for it. It was filled with pink frilly dresses and itty bitty bathrobes.... I felt a pang of jealousy, then I scolded myself. Katelin arrived shortly after with her dad. She came running up to me screaming my name, hugged me, was talking a hundred miles an hour, singing my songs. She followed me around, giggling and jumping, and asking me a million questions. Suddenly I was the funniest person in the world.... I looked like a princess... and I had all the answers...
But the real catcher was at bedtime. Katelin had built a bear a few months before at the mall... She was about to go to bed and she was dragging him around by the neck. When you build a bear, they give you a bright red heart to put in the bear. They ask you to close your eyes, rub the bear's heart.... and make a wish. Then they sew him up. My mom said to Katelin, "Tell Madelin what you told me you wished for when you made your bear..." And Katelin looked at me and said.. "I wished for your music..."
I don't know exactly what it was that made it hard for me to fall asleep that night. Maybe it was that Katelin told me her imaginary friend "Lala" was going to sleep in my room... yikes! But early the next day, I took Katelin to the mall. I wanted to see this bear stuff for my self. I made my mom, the trouble maker, come along. We were making three bears. My mom tried to protest and said she would "watch..." I shot her the look she taught me so well when I was a kid. You know the "don't even try to get out of this" look. We made three bears that day: Lala, Lucy and Teddy Delight. Katelin named all three. Lala is her imaginary friend, Lulu is my dog, and Teddy Delight came pouring out of the psyche of a four year old. And when it came time for me to make a wish... I rubbed that tiny little red heart in my hands and wished that someday when I am done chasing my dreams, I have a daughter just like Katelin.