The young girl used her right hand to wipe her right nostril and then her left nostril and again her right. Unsightly as it was, I empathised with her - too bad that she didn't have tissues with her to deal with her cold. She sat on the blanket with her father. He spoke quietly to her while she wiped her nose. I guess he didn't have tissues for her either.I glanced away from them and watched a 30-something year-old woman walk along the shoreline with a young girl and boy. They were looking for items of interest on the pebbly beach. This was a good way to enjoy a sunny Saturday evening - fish and chips on the beach watching the sun wind its way down toward the horizon. Picnic done, M was reading his book and I was people watching. Usually our roles are reversed. I lose myself in a book and M takes out a book to read, but is easily distracted by what is going on around him.
The man and his snotty-nosed daughter walked towards the water. The woman with the two children was returning from their mini excursion. I was surprised when their paths met. They stopped. They were all together. I started to put the pieces of the puzzle together. The man was dark-skinned and the woman Caucasian. This indicated that he was the father of the boy and the girl with the snotty nose. The other girl was the daughter of the woman.
The woman approached the snotty-nosed girl made a joke and tried to poke her in the ribs. Not amused, snotty-nosed girl moved away. The dynamics of this group were interesting. The boy was happy to interact with the woman but his older sister was not. The two girls, of about the same age, did not have much to say to each other. The woman moved closer to the man and he held her hand. Her daughter came to stand close to him and touched his arm. He ignored her. She waited a little longer for attention from him and, not getting it, moved again to her mother's side. His daughter distanced herself and collected driftwood.
"Is she the new wife?" M asked. I didn't realise that he was no longer reading his book. "No, she's the brand new girlfriend," I replied. "Neither of them has wedding rings." My heart went out to snotty-nosed girl who wasn't enamoured with Dad's new girlfriend. And to the woman's daughter who was desperate for a surrogate father's attention. Who knew where the other parents were. In this day and age the odds are high that the parents are divorced.
M and I packed up our chairs. When we left the beach the snotty-nosed girl was still off to the side collecting driftwood. Perhaps her snotty nose wasn't from a cold after all. I gave thanks that my parents are still married to each other, forty-six years later. My parents-in-law have celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. What a privilege when parents have spared their children the hurtful ramifications of breaking up the family unit.
Marriage isn't always easy. Every marriage has its issues and challenges. Sometimes it seems easier to call it quits but at what cost?
