15 May 2008

Oedipus had it far too simple

Wow, some things are just universal and they astound me. The other day, J- was laying on the couch near D-, holding M- over her head, saying, "One day, you guys are going to find somebody to marry who loves you so much and is so nice and takes care of you."

D- immediately responded, "Probably Katie, I'll marry-- she's nice." So apparently he's got his life pretty well set out for himself, when you consider that in addition to his now-scheduled marriage to his aunt, he's already identified approximately 400 hundred movies he'll watch, many activities he'll perform, and various things he'll learn "when [he] turn[s] 10".

The funny thing is, a well-worn story in our family goes as follows: when both of my brothers (at about 4 and 3) simultaneously claimed the right to marry my mom when they grew up before being informed she was already spoken for, my oldest brother then declared he'd instead marry our cousin, who apparently had the next longest tenure as Girl We Know. My other brother thought for a second and then moved on down the logical line of succession in his mind, and called dibs on her younger brother.

I'm sure somewhere deep down, despite all his happiness in subsequent relationships (with women, of course), my brother must have been just a little bit heartbroken when his backup fell through and my cousin got married, and then somewhat sadly resigned when they had a baby.

7 comments:

Momo Fali said...

Somewhere, Freud is smiling.

Anonymous said...

Our daughter insists that she is going to marry her daddy. When you ask her why she states that she'll do it so she can get a ring and because he's a grown up! Sometimes I could protest the last part...ha!

LiteralDan said...

Momo Fali: I think Freud's pretty much always smiling wherever he is, with a filthy mind like that. Don't you agree?

Christina: You can't argue that she's at least carefully reasoning it out, even if her logic is questionable. Maybe don't tell her anyone can get her a ring, to keep her reined in as long as possible.

As a side note, I bet you could blow her mind by telling her that when she's a grownup, all the kids she knows will be grownups too, even the babies.

TerriRainer said...

My 6 year old just informed me tonight that she doesn't want to get married, or even have a boyfriend...GREAT news for me (while it lasts anyway)!

You were at 33% after I voted today, btw.

:) Terri

Anonymous said...

It's great fun speculating on what our children might some day blame on us and require therapy for, isn't it?

BTW--I (finally) have up a link to my pictures

Rikki said...

I can see why he wants to marry Katie, she seems like a good catch! At least he is not pining over someone of lesser stock! ;)

LiteralDan said...

TerriRainer: You should make her sign some kind of contract while you can. Try to find a lawyer to sign off on it. And if that works, send me his contact info, okay?

Christy: Oh I'm sure I've already got plenty for both kids to blame me for. Who knows where I'll be on that score by the time they are able to start voicing their concerns?

The Paris pictures look awesome-- I'm extremely jealous.

Rikki: Oh she's a good catch, alright, but I guess I expected him at this age to wanna marry Minnie Mouse or something, you know? lol