Another gorgeous day in Southern California; where else can one wear a sky-blue tank top during October? Bad news seems egregiously out of place in the glare of the splendid southern California sunshine - particularly in the midst of adjacent tables displaying Happy Meal bags.
As usual, I get together with my cousin every Saturday for our late breakfast and talk fest. I enjoy shocking her of her placid nature when I detailed stories of my dating ventures. She is such an innocent; she married a virgin, and has only slept with one man in her entire life – her husband. However, today the conversation focused on her two daughters.
I had in mind to ask her about her possible decision of letting someone adopt her eldest kid. Sometimes a woman must make a difficult choice for the sake of her offspring. In the long run, she hopes this sacrifice will result in best possible outcome.
An elderly lady friend of hers, who is somewhat financially well-off, offered to adopt her eldest daughter, this in order to give her the legal shelter she needs to be able to study higher education. Both of my cousin’s daughters are extremely bright, the oldest faces her imminent HS graduation next year, very possibly with honors. It is a decision which may affect her academic development – as well as her daughter’s future.
We did not conclude on how she plans to deal with this quandary. Rather the conversation steered towards her youngest daughter. She was born with spinal bifida. This condition is caused by lack of folic acid in diet during pregnancy.
We were making comparisons how the two girls differ in character; the youngest is a total smart ass, while the eldest is shy and introverted. My cousin then told me something I was not aware of. It seems that those who suffer from spinal bifida do not live past the four decade mark.
I asked my cousin if her daughter knew this. She said: “probably, she is internet savvy, and once when we passed by a street fair, she insisted on getting on the rides. I told her not today, yet she was adamant- insisting she wanted to be happy now.”
For a moment my mind suspended motion. I found it inconceivable that this girl who is a total joy - so cute (she has a striking resemblance to a petite-brunette Britney Spears), and smart, would perish possibly before her prime.
I made the effort not to show how affected I was by this. We made small talk on how last week her daughter came home and told her: “Look mom, I got five A’s, and a football-player boyfriend." She then detailed how she actually scouted the football team at the school where she is a freshman, and investigated which boy was not taken. Once she found her target, she orchestrated meeting this boy and approached him with math questions.
We laughed about her daughter’s ingenuity, all the while tears streamed down our cheeks - much like a leaky faucet which won’t shut off; while a bittersweet smile decorated our lips.
While driving, I mused how different my life would have been conducted, had I been aware as a pre-teen of my estimated expiration date.
