Monty91
01-16-2015, 11:23 AM
When our 27-year-old son and his long-standing girlfriend announced their intention to marry, I felt I had a duty to fake surprise.
In fact, I’d known from almost the first moment I saw them together that they would end up at the altar, judging that they were made for each other and no other outcome was imaginable.
As for our other feelings, my wife and I had no need to feign our unqualified joy at the prospect of welcoming Lisa into the family. Pretty, clever, accomplished and sweet-natured, she is everything a loving parent could wish for in a daughter-in-law.
Which brings me to a surreal thought that has been haunting me all week. How would I have felt if our son had announced that he would like to present his intended . . . and into the room, blushing prettily, had tiptoed not the lovely Lisa, 32, but the gargantuan, shambling form of our official national treasure, 57-year-old Stephen Fry?
In fact, I’d known from almost the first moment I saw them together that they would end up at the altar, judging that they were made for each other and no other outcome was imaginable.
As for our other feelings, my wife and I had no need to feign our unqualified joy at the prospect of welcoming Lisa into the family. Pretty, clever, accomplished and sweet-natured, she is everything a loving parent could wish for in a daughter-in-law.
Which brings me to a surreal thought that has been haunting me all week. How would I have felt if our son had announced that he would like to present his intended . . . and into the room, blushing prettily, had tiptoed not the lovely Lisa, 32, but the gargantuan, shambling form of our official national treasure, 57-year-old Stephen Fry?