"ITWO is now TDWO"

My oldest son brought his girlfriend home this summer for a visit. During the time they were here I kept hearing him say, "If things work out" we will do such and such. It was said so often that I finally shortened it to "ITWO." Well last week my son JJ and his girlfriend Angela got engaged so "Things Did Work Out" or "TDWO."

On the Wednesday before he got engaged JJ called me to tell me he was on his way to pick up the ring. Then he was going to get some flowers. He had also arranged for Angela to be called and told to be at their church at 6:30 so she could practice the violin piece she was playing in the service on Sunday.

JJ was getting to the church at 6:15 so he could have "their song" playing when she arrived. Then he would surprise her and pop the question. My question to him after hearing all of this was, "Who are you?" I mean I have known him for thirty-two years and he has never, ever been this romantic. But I guess that is what love does to you. One moment you are sane and on an even keel, and the next you are insane and topsy-turvy.

I had been very impressed when a few weeks before the "engagement" JJ and Angela had flown to Wichita, Kansas so that he could ask her father for permission to marry her. I didn't know people still did things like that. I didn't. When Terry and I decided to get married we just kind of announced it to her parents. Then we told mine. They were so happy that I was finally getting married, they were ecstatic. I was in my late twenties and they thought I was over the hill.

But now we are going to have a new member of the family and I couldn't be more excited. I hate to sound totally sappy but like that line from the Tom Cruise movie "Jerry McGuire" she completes him. He has never seemed happier and never seemed so content.

When they marry, Angela will be coming into a family that is very, very close. At times I guess we can almost be called smothering. But we LOVE our kids, and LOVE our grandkids. And we LOVE our daughters-in-law and that category will soon include her. We talk on the phone to our boys once a day at the least and sometimes more than that. 

Angela is Chinese so I have started looking at Asian babies and thinking how cute they are. I know she and JJ aren't planning to have children for a while. She is working on her doctorate and wants to finish it before having a family. Still I am noticing babies who have an Asian heritage and they sure are cute.

Next year is going to be an interesting one. This time last year I barely knew Angela existed and now she is going to be one of us. Life is always exciting, isn't it? You just never know what is around the next bend. I was hoping ITWO would become TDWO and now that they have I am TFOJ which is "totally full of joy."

 

 

 

 

 

©2004 Jackie K. Cooper

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