Sunday Scribblings: Wedding

I made a mistake last night. And I can't take it back. I'd never had that much to drink, but honestly, when it's your 21st birthday, you're supposed to let go. Still, I should have known better. I'm not like everyone else. Well, I am like everyone else except that I have a skeleton in my closet that will haunt me for the rest of my life, whether I allow it to dangle in all its bony glory outside the closet or push it behind the shoes and jackets inside.

It's about my parents. And when I told my friends the truth in our tiny dorm, they didn't say anything. They just awkwardly made excuses and left. My roommate, someone with whom I could talk about anything, told me he was tired and rolled up in his bed.

But it's my fault. I always want to get to the punch line first. I'm a bad comedian. But also a terrible storyteller. Perhaps I should practice. Do you mind if I practice with you?

My parents have fascinating stories. My father was born and raised in Abilene, TX. He lived there for the first five years of his life until his parents were killed by a drunk driver. Killed instantly. My father had a sister who lived in Bellevue, WA. So, he and his brother - my uncle - got shipped up there and lived with who I consider to me my grandparents.

Meanwhile, my mother was born in Seattle. A crack baby. Daughter of a prostitute and a pimp. She lived with her mother for a couple years before - she told me - the cops arrested her mother and killed her father in a raid. Her mother was declared unfit by the courts thus effectively making her an orphan. Well, a kind man and woman from Bellevue fostered my mother starting at age four and then adopted her later on.

Well, my mother and father met and then came up through school together. Same grade. From an early age, they clicked. And by the time high school came around, their emotions had lead them to do the inevitable. So I was conceived. They talked about getting married, but they weren't sure it was the right thing to do. My father insisted; my mother hesitated. Then they brought it to their parents. The parents didn't take it well. So, they skipped the wedding, ignored their parents, and traveled down to Vegas where they married.

Knowing they couldn't go home again, they moved out here. Where no one knows that they share the same parents.