Telling the family, part 2
Thursday, February 2:
I don’t know why, but my husband picked this day to tell the rest of his family.
Maybe it’s because we called them on our cell phone on the way out of town in the evening, so they wouldn’t feel they could take up our whole evening going on and on about the baby. (We are traveling for something I have to do for my work the next day. He decided to tag along. Or maybe he didn’t want me to go by myself. He is getting so protective.)
His grandfather’s second wife is first. She is an old family friend who married his grandfather a few years after my husband’s grandmother passed away. Now his grandfather is gone, too, but of course we still embrace her as family. She knows my grandmother -- the one boasting about this being her fifth great-grandchild -- and starts crying when she thinks about how this has made her happy. But she isn’t making sense. She jumps from one conversation point to another. She says my husband’s grandparents are looking down from heaven and are happy about the baby. I think that makes her cry, too, because she misses both of them. We’ve obviously shaken her up with the news.
Next are my husband’s aunt and uncle. I make him break the news. I have my own family to deal with -- and it makes me nervous. His aunt is known for being a long-winded phone talker. When I get on the phone, she seems to want to talk mostly about what room we will turn into the baby’s room and how we are going to decorate it. And, wow, isn’t that great, that we had a kid to give my husband’s adorable nephew someone to play with? Why, yes, that’s exactly why we are having this baby! We are thinking only of our nephew’s happiness in everything! I know she means well, but I just wonder about the things she says sometimes. Then her husband comes home while I am talking to her, so I have to tell him, and he seems happy. Why does this make me squirm? The call is over soon, I guess because he works long hours and they need to eat dinner.
Even though it makes me squirm to tell them, it’s good to know the baby has family who are happy at just the thought of him or her.
I don’t know why, but my husband picked this day to tell the rest of his family.
Maybe it’s because we called them on our cell phone on the way out of town in the evening, so they wouldn’t feel they could take up our whole evening going on and on about the baby. (We are traveling for something I have to do for my work the next day. He decided to tag along. Or maybe he didn’t want me to go by myself. He is getting so protective.)
His grandfather’s second wife is first. She is an old family friend who married his grandfather a few years after my husband’s grandmother passed away. Now his grandfather is gone, too, but of course we still embrace her as family. She knows my grandmother -- the one boasting about this being her fifth great-grandchild -- and starts crying when she thinks about how this has made her happy. But she isn’t making sense. She jumps from one conversation point to another. She says my husband’s grandparents are looking down from heaven and are happy about the baby. I think that makes her cry, too, because she misses both of them. We’ve obviously shaken her up with the news.
Next are my husband’s aunt and uncle. I make him break the news. I have my own family to deal with -- and it makes me nervous. His aunt is known for being a long-winded phone talker. When I get on the phone, she seems to want to talk mostly about what room we will turn into the baby’s room and how we are going to decorate it. And, wow, isn’t that great, that we had a kid to give my husband’s adorable nephew someone to play with? Why, yes, that’s exactly why we are having this baby! We are thinking only of our nephew’s happiness in everything! I know she means well, but I just wonder about the things she says sometimes. Then her husband comes home while I am talking to her, so I have to tell him, and he seems happy. Why does this make me squirm? The call is over soon, I guess because he works long hours and they need to eat dinner.
Even though it makes me squirm to tell them, it’s good to know the baby has family who are happy at just the thought of him or her.
posted by Damselfly at 6:46 PM
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