2006-08-08 - 8:47 p.m.
Nya then asked where we�d be in ten years. I said we�d still live in the same apartment building. We both like our neighborhood and our building a lot. But we�d have moved to a 2-bedroom apartment. Neither of us are into moving to the suburbs, but we want to have a separate bedroom for Isaac by then. He�ll be eight.
Around that point, his new sister � now age 4 � will move in to share his room. Sadie Anthony. Yes, Anthony. Years ago, I was at my Uncle Anthony�s wedding and saw that my cousin Anthony�s wife was quite pregnant. I asked when she was due.
�Oh, should be just about a month now.�
�Wow, congratulations! Have you thought about a name?�
�No, we haven�t talked about it for real yet.�
I thought of the obvious one. At that point I had a Grandpa Tony, an Uncle Tony, an Uncle Anthony, a cousin Anthony, and another cousin Anthony.
�Well, how about Anthony?�
�No, it�s going to be a girl. I�m not naming my daughter Anthony!�
Hmm. I�d always heard that girls with traditionally male names do better in life. At that moment I vowed that I would name my daughter Anthony. (Nya was quite opposed to this, but at least let me have the middle name.)
Nya would still be teaching, but would be involved in establishing a new school for children with Downs syndrome called LADDER. Ladder! Our own kids won�t have Downs syndrome and will attend a Chicago public school for the gifted. Public schools served Nya and I well for elementary and I had a very misguided conception of private schools (�public schools� to the British) until relatively recently.
(Saint Ann�s School, where we met only admits very bright kids, but it turns out this is rare. Generally it seems, having attended private school doesn�t mean you�re smart. It just means you�re rich. Gwyneth Paltrow, who attended Chapin, is apparently not necessarily a genius. She just grew up with money� All props to Mom and Dad for busting their butts to earn my tuition on public school teachers� salaries.)
I�d have sold the business and would be in graduate school for my MFA in writing. I�d have also published a second book of essays, recounting amusing tales of some of the dumb things I did in my youth. I think maybe writing is what I was meant to do, although I certainly never realized it before.
Nya continued things by asking where we�d be in fifteen years. Sadie would be 9 and Isaac would be 13. I said we�d still be in our building, but would have bought the condo next to ours and knocked out the wall in between. That way both kids would have their own bedrooms, plus there�d be an extra bath.
�I think Isaac will have his first date.�
�Okay. You know he�s gay.�
�No, he�s not!�
�He�s still our son. We should love and support him.�
�Of course, but he�s not gay!�
�When you�re ready, you�ll see the truth.�
I stewed. Nya started singing �How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?� from West Side Story.
�Shut up! He�s not into that song! Even if my son is gay, he�s not, like, fabulous!!�
�Fine. But his partner is.�
�What?�
�When he�s older, he lives with Renard who has his own cooking show. We visit them all the time. They have the cutest pet pugs. Christina and Brittany. Chrissie and Brit.�
I didn�t like this.
�Relax. He�s a doctor. Sadie�s a social worker abroad. What�s a country that will be in need of help in the future? China! She lives in China. In fact, she got married there. We have Asian grandchildren.�
Wait a minute, how did I get to be a grandpa?
�I wish she could come home more.�
Nya paused. �Actually, maybe she�s gay too.�
�What?!? No, all my children are not gay!�
�You just have to accept them and love them for who they are.�
I was fuming. Then I realized I was getting all worked up about the sexual identity of people who didn�t exist yet. Oof.
Nya will still be teaching, now at LADDER. I�ll be teaching writing at a local college. And I�ll be running marathons. MS research will have progressed to the point where treatment gives me back full motion. I�ll be very thankful and understand that my body is a gift from God. I�ll run marathons to celebrate it.
Isaac, gay or not, will run with me.
� 2006 Geoff Gladstone
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