Monday 1 December 2014

Happy families . . .

When my first marriage ended, and when I married the Badger, I listened to an interesting spectrum of opinions on the subject.

It took me a long, long time to come to terms with the idea of being a divorced Christian woman married to a divorced Christian man. It doesn’t sit well, you know? And some of the opinions expressed to me underlined that.

My grandson, at five years old, gets on famously with the Badger. They are good friends. But some things about our domestic arrangements puzzle my grandson. For example, it took him a little while to work out that the Badger doesn’t actually live in the woodwork shed. An easy mistake to make, given the amount of time the two of them spend there. My grandson will select the two largest spanners from the box, and offer one to the Badger. ‘Let’s be knights. I’ll be the good knight, and you can be the bad knight.’

Sometimes he sifts through the information he has gathered about his granddad and me. ‘Granddad is Mummy’s father,’ he’ll say: ‘and you are Mummy’s mother.’ Uh-huh. No word of a lie.

Yesterday, he asked me why I am no longer married to his granddad. So I explained ‘Well, Granddad fell in love with Nanny. So I said to him, if you love Nanny you must give it a go! See how you get on. So he did that, and then because I didn’t want to be by myself, I married the Badger. Good idea, eh?’

I spared him the complicated details, such as that I had a whole nother marriage between his granddad and the Badger. He just had the five-year-old version.

He thought about it for a few moments then gave his verdict.

‘I think it was a fantastic idea!’ he said.


Ah, if the world were peopled entirely by five-year-olds . . .


13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Love it!
blessings,
DMW

BLD in MT said...

Oh, if only. That was beautiful and gave me a nice smile to start my day. So many details we can get bogged down in. But, yes, maybe there is much to be said for the five year old version.

Pen Wilcock said...

And a comment from my Julie B, which I accidentally deleted!

She says:
"Yes, these things can be tricky. I am in the same spot you're in, however my grandchildren have yet to ask any questions. So I haven't offered any information. It's probably helpful that my first husband hasn't desired to be a part of their lives, which seems sad to write, but has kept things from being too complicated. "

And she says she likes my grandson :0)

xx

Pen Wilcock said...

Thank you for your comments, friends! This is a kindly place.

:0) xx

Elizabeth @ The Garden Window said...

Sometimes we as adults make things far too complicated. I think your explanation was splendid :-)

Pen Wilcock said...

:0) xx

Buzzfloyd said...

Well, his world is a better place for having the Badger in it, isn't it?

Pen Wilcock said...

:0) I think that's mutual. Those two will be an intrepid pair as time goes on. Something like Calvin and Hobbes. xx

Rapunzel said...

Ah he's a bright one!
My kids and grandkids are of the same opinion about our situation--I think our children's generation is more open-minded and straightforward than our parents generation.

Pen Wilcock said...

Yes - it won't go back into the box it came out of, that's for sure. And I'm as grateful for that as I am sad. x

LANA said...

Same situation here, third marriage for both of us, however, even more complicated because we were married as teenagers, got divorced, married others and had children with them, then divorced and married each other again years later ! Oh thank goodness my 4 year old grandson has not asked yet why his mommy has a different father. But I am remembering your answer just in case.

Pen Wilcock said...

Gosh, what an interesting story! :0) xx

Sandra Ann said...

Priceless!! Out of the mouths of babes, eh? Xx