Enter Me

"What is it, Honey?" Mom said.

"I'm in love. With Jerry. And he's in love with me."

Her mother and father looked at each other, then at Heather.

Mom cleared her throat and said, "Jerry, your cousin? You're in love with your cousin?"

"Yes, very much so. And he's in love with me. He's next door right now with his parents having this same conversation. We were always so close growing up. But don't worry, nothing ever happened back then; we were always attracted but never acted because it was taboo. We went our separate ways through college, but now we've realized that we've been denying our true feelings our whole lives. And we want to be together.

"You want to be together with your cousin. Like a couple?"

"Yes, Mom." "Like a couple. We are a couple already."

"Are you...having sex?"

"Mom, we're in love! Yes, we're having sex."

"Oh my."

"Mom, we've done our homework. First cousins have sex and get married and have babies all the time."

Dad didn't have much to say. That was typical. So Mom did enough fretting for both. "What do you think, Hon?" Mom asked Dad.

The phone rang. Next door Jerry and his parents had been having an identical conversation with a stoic Dad and an emotional Mom. It was Jerry's father on the phone.

"Hello," Heather's dad said into the phone. "I know, can you believe this?...Crazy kids...Yeah, I'm okay, how about you?...Okay, come on over." He ended the call. "They're coming over," he said.

Soon all six of them were in the same room. Drinks were served. The Moms tried not to be appalled and the Dads took it in stride. They loved their children and wished for their happiness. But there were questions.

Q: How did this happen?

A: We've been suppressing our feelings for years because it was taboo. And we didn't want to disappoint our parents. We grew up. We want to be together.

Q: You two didn't just get drunk and shack up at the beach did you?

A: No, Dad. We spent a lot of time talking and sharing and being honest with each other. It was not a snap...nor an easy...decision. We've struggled with it. But now we know it's right.

Q: What about children?

A: We've looked into that. The risks are not high. Cousins do it all the time.

Q: Where are you going to live?

A: Jerry's moving in with me.

Q: What are people going to think?

A: We don't care. If people care about us they will support us. If they don't, they won't. We want your blessings but we don't have control over that.

It went on like that for a while, and finally the subject of marriage came up.

"What about marriage?" Heather's mother asked.

"We haven't talked about that yet in detail, but we will," Heather said. "It will depend on whenever my lazy boyfriend gets off his butt and does something about it."

Jerry vacated his seat and got down on one knee in front of Heather and took her hand. "Heather, I don't have a ring yet, but will you..."

"Yes!" Heather blurted with a smile. "Anytime." They shared their first kiss in front of their folks.

The Moms and Dads looked at each other, smiled, shrugged and realized that they would have to get used to the idea of their niece and nephew being daughter-in-law and son-in-law.

"But Jerry, there is one thing I will absolutely not agree to under any circumstances, and it is not negotiable."

They all looked at Heather with blank puzzlement.

"What's that?" Jerry asked.

"There is no way on Earth that I'm changing my last name!"

Everybody thought that was pretty funny and they all laughed pretty hard.

But you had to be there.

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