Dad's visit

My Dad has returned home after spending four nights with us. It was great to see him, and I really enjoyed his visit. We didn't talk much about the wedding. The night of his arrival, though, we sat in the dark on the front verandah and chatted about a few things. He told me he likes Heather, he thinks she's a good person, but that he's from a "different generation". I knew what he meant, so I didn't really respond.

Finally he said to me, "You know what you're going over there for?"

"Yeah," I said.

"That's not recognised here in Australia, is it?"

"No, not yet."

"Well, if you don't mind me saying, that's sort of good in a way, isn't it? Because if things don't work out, in a few years, you'll be able to get married again."

To a man, he meant.

He also told me that, being of a different generation, he didn't really understand "it", but he thinks of Heather and me as being like his aunts, who were twins and shared a house together for about fifty years, just the two of them. These aunts were a really important part of our family, very much loved, and when I was a kid we came to Brisbane four times a year to visit them.

I feel a little frustrated by this, but Heather sees it as a positive approach; it's not everything that we could hope for, but it's certainly not negative. I am not the most patient of people, it must be said, so sometimes I wish my parents would just hurry up and accept our relationship. Process it, dammit, what's taking you so long? In reality, there is no guarantee that this will ever happen.

Dad definitely likes Heather, though. He asked her for instructions on the best way to drive north out of Brisbane. From him, this is a very big compliment.