The View From Yet To Be

The Mains are from Mars...and the Gomez family...from...um...Louisiana. Actually my nephew and his wife live in Mars, Pennsylvania or close to it but that really has nothing to do with anything...I was only trying to justify that lead sentence. Since that failed, we might as well move on...shall we?

The Gomez and Main families get a long fine for the most part but our views of the world are skewed by our distinctly varied perspectives. As a result, it's been very difficult lately for me to sit down to write because I don't want to sound judgmental yet the relationship between our two families dominates almost every waking moment in our household and certainly a great many of my thoughts.

Suffice it to say a lot of things are at play and we are praying they work out, but Amy and I fear a harsh reality could set in soon.

We're trying to get the Gomez's into their own place but their viewpoint is so different from ours that we're trying to stay out of most of the decision making and refrain from saying anything that might shatter their hopes.

Lee has gone so far as to yesterday start buying furniture for their "yet to be" apartment - a small entertainment center, a desk, another television stand, etc.- nothing extravagant but, to be honest, we felt it might be a bit premature, yet perhaps we're simply pessimists.

Shortly afterward I picked up Ana from work and thought maybe I could feel her out about her thoughts. Indeed, maybe her view wasn't as warped as mine and I thought she could enlighten me - she wouldn't be the first to set my thinking on the right course. So I delicately waltzed the conversation to a very cursory level interrogation about whether she considered that her Mom might be acting a bit impetuously by focusing on furniture at this juncture or at least not on more practical items...like, for instance, beds. I didn't even consider bringing up my concern that the family is going to have an extremely hard time qualifying for an apartment even with a small but steady financial stipend coming their way from loving Christians.

Ana listened to what I said and then looked at me with that expression all young people seem to master far too early in life which keeps older folks humble. Then she said, "Well Mr. Michael, we don't really need to buy beds...as long as we get cable TV."

Houston...we have a problem...but thank God we have a sense of humor.