What will my Parents Say?

You can never tell…

Growing up, I was in a family of five girls and one boy. I won’t tell you which I was, but I had a bedroom all to myself. Mom was very loving, and always wanted the best for her children. A traditional Irish Catholic, many sentences were entreaties to God; “He’ll be 15 next week, if God spares him”, that sort of thing. Dad was a fighting Irish Catholic. First at Church every Sunday, and first in the bar every Sunday afternoon. Very authoritarian and strict; it was his way, or the highway.

It came to pass that one of my elder sisters had a one-night stand. Unfortunately, she fell pregnant, and so she had to tell mom and dad. Mom was the easy one; my sister knew that Mom wouldn’t be the one to give any issues. Dad was the problem; how would he take it. This was 30 years ago, so I can’t remember the exact words my sister would have used; but not being too flowery with words, it was probably along the lines of ‘Dad, I’m going to have a baby’.

I do, however, remember Dads reply. “Oh, OK, then”. And he went to the pub to celebrate.

My sister went on to have her baby, and lived at home for several years afterwards, until she married a good man and had several other children. She’s now a happy grandmother herself.

The moral of the story is that you can never tell how somebody will react.

Postscript: Several years later I did some math, and discovered that my eldest sister was born 7 months after mom and dad got married…