Eclectic Echoes

Snow on the Rooftop

Now that’s a good snow. It started coming down around 3pm yesterday and finally ended around 9am this morning. In all we got about 5″. Naturally today we spent a good hour or so sledding, making snow angels and having snowball fights. We would have spent more time out, but we are all still recovering from colds.

Last night around 2am I was out in front of the building when out neighbors got in from New York (after a 2 and a half hour drive turned into 6 hours). One thing led to another and I let one of our other neighbors visiting father borrow our parking spot in the Art Center. This morning he returned the parking tag before leaving town. When Tammy opened the door he said “Please give this to your father and tell him thank you.” 

I know I am prematurely gray, and in all honesty Tammy does look much younger than she is…but do I really look old enough to be her father? No wonder we have always had problems with people assuming I am a “cradle robber” or that I am actually Johann’s grandfather. In other places it led to people yelling obscenities at Tammy when she was pregnant and out with Johann alone. People, even some of the medical professionals we met during the pregnancy and delivery, assumed Tammy was teenager and I was her father.

Here in Mystic we have gotten many strange looks and we have been shunned by some until they discover that Tammy is really only a year younger than I am. While discouraging in many ways, it is also a telling way to find out the character of the people we meet. Those who allow their assumptions to prejudice them against getting to know us–well it’s probably just as well. It’s hard at times, but then we meet another person who accepts us as we are, not passing judgment on us because we look 15 or 20 years apart in age. When those people find out our real ages, they are genuinely surprised, but it usually in no way changes how they treat us, a very telling indicator of their character. Those are the people we want to know better.