Another one for the “it’s all relative” or conversely, “it’s all relatives”, file.

Back in high school when Cory had his first semi-serious girlfriend he told me something that has stayed with me since. I am constantly amazed at the odd bits of information that stay with me while so many other things of seemingly much greater importance slip away on a regular basis.

At any rate, I remember it with vivid clarity. I was in the kitchen at the old Kindred house and he came in and said out loud not really directly to me, but more to the universe, “I think she is thinking that this is a long-term thing.”

Being a member of the universe I felt it appropriate to reply, “She does? What do you mean?”

He says, a bit exasperated that I wasn’t a mind-reading life form, “Our relationship, apparently she is in it for the long-term.”

When this conversation took place they had been “seeing” each other for all of two weeks. So, I was beginning to be a tad concerned by Cory’s conversation with the universe. Could it be that he had managed to find a fatal attraction girlfriend this early in life?

Now a bit more committed to the conversation I asked, “How exactly do you know that?”

“Well”, he says, “she asked me what I wanted for my birthday and that is like four weeks away.”

Mentally, I went right into containment activities so that I could calmly utter, “I see…well, that is good.”

Having shared that bit of what I believe he perceived as good and semi-amazing news, he returned back to the order of the day which was spending time in his room with his friends, loud music and video games.

After Cory retreated, I found myself desperately needing to share the Cory conversation with someone else in the universe. I called my friend Tammy and tell her about Cory’s “long-term” relationship. We had a good laugh that day about the way teenagers perceive the world.

Not entirely sure why I have retained that little memory. Perhaps it is because it gave me a good laugh; or perhaps it was because it reminded me once again that all things are relative. This theme of relativity – both on the front of actual relativity and on the front of “relative”-ity – resonates with me more and more as I grow older and realize how delightful the little moments in life can be.

In reflection, I surmise I remember that moment because Cory chose to share it in a part of the universe I was in.  And so the lesson is that the relativity for me was that my teenager was sharing something important to him with me, his mother (also known as a alien life form some days)…ahhh, now I know why I retained it all these years…that, and it was pretty damn funny – all things being relative and all.

Day fifty-seven of the new forty – obla di obla da

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