A chailín bhig mo chroí, conas a phósfhainnse thú?

[ailbhe]

Recently Linnea has discovered the concept of marrying, weddings, whathaveyou. It's something she hasn't met much because the right kind of fairytales give me the heebie jeebies and I'm not terribly kene on the whole deal.

Anyway, we looked at my wedding photos and the album of them and so on, and then there was nothing for weeks. And then yesterday, or perhaps the day before, she said "When I am Daddy's age, I will marry you."

"But I'm already married to Daddy."

"Oh, but you can marry me as well!"

"I can't marry you, I'm already in your family. Marrying is when you make someone new part of your family."

This confused her. Surely family is immutable?

Comments

[mrs-warwick.livejournal.com]

It took a while for Rhiannon to accept that she couldn't marry Daddy, and that he couldn't be the daddy of her babies.
She has declared that she is going to marry either Niall or Samuel from school, but hasn't decided which one yet. As Niall and Samuel do everything together, she might marry both!

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I remember at about Linnea's age being deeply puzzled about why, if I couldn't marry my dad, I couldn't marry my (female) cousin instead.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

But you could now!

[ailbhe]

Wouldn't she have to get a dispensation from the Pope?

(You have NO IDEA how glad I was not to have to explain the arbitrary gender rules to Linnea. LIFE IS SO MUCH SIMPLER NOW.)

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

Not unless she wanted a Catholic marriage, which I think don't tend to be handed out to the same-sexualists anyway. Registry office ahoy!

(And goodness yes, what a boon. It hadn't occurred to me, but you timed your child-socialisation spectacularly well!)

[ailbhe]

(I don't know what I would have done - endorse the status quo or explain that she personally lives in a cruel, unfair world where even who is allowed to be family is based on genital configuration?)

[sam-t.livejournal.com]

I know! Although, as it turns out, we didn't actually want to. Erm, not that the subject has exactly come up in conversation.

I'm glad that Linnea won't need that particular explanation of why you're unlikely to actually marry the family members you almost proposed to at the age of three and a half.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Marrying is when you make someone new part of your family

What a lovely way of putting it!

[dreamalynn.livejournal.com]

I love your definition of marriage. Would that it were so easy everywhere, to everyone.

(And I have to ask - I know "mo chroí" but what does the whole title mean?)

[biascut.livejournal.com]

I know "c(h)ailín", which is girl! Maybe we can work this out...

[ailbhe]

http://www.cobblers.de/presse/2003/nicn/A_Shaighdiurin_A_Chroi.mp3

[biascut.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's beautiful! Thank you!

[tiggsybabes.livejournal.com]

Kate wants Barney to get married so he can have puppies, as you see, you can only have children if you're married ... (according to Kate)

[ailbhe]

We thought we'd figured that out when we were kids, and asked my mother - "Is it true that you can only have children when you're married?"

"Well," she said, "some people think it's a good idea not to have children if you're not married."

I love my mum. I suppose it was easier for her then, speaking after the legalisation of contraception.

[(Anonymous)]

I do tell Kate that she was born before we were married as she was our flowergirl, but it's not really sinking in ...

[cangetmad.livejournal.com]

Gnome intends to marry Ella but have Gnipper be the father of her kids. That's a complicated "no", so I've just said that usually that's not the way it's done; that mums and dads are not related.

Linnea's family is fluid in that Emer has come into it, though, isn't it?