Annullment: Where nobody knows your name

Local columnist

link Grant McGee

Do you have any family secrets?

I got to thinking about the time my momma told me a family secret that rocked my world.

My mom and I were out to lunch, chowing down on some good deli sandwiches and chatting about the latest drama in my life: a divorce.

“This isn’t such a big deal,” Mom said. “I’ve been married before.”

I stopped in mid-chew.

“What?” I asked.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full. I taught you better than that,” Mom said. “I was married once, before I met your father.”

I put my sandwich down.

“Don’t look so shocked,” Mom said.

“I’m 29 years old,” I said. “Why am I hearing about this just now?”

“I promised your father I’d never tell you children about it,” she said. “But he’s gone now.”

This was a few months after my dad had “gone on to glory.”

“So who was this guy?” I asked.

“He was a captain in the Army,” Mom said. “I don’t remember his name.”

My mom went on to tell the tale of having a civilian job at an Army post and meeting and marrying the captain from Arizona.

“So he had orders to go to New Guinea,” she said. “I made arrangements to go meet his family in Arizona. I flew out to Los Angeles then took a train to Yuma.”

While my mom told her tale I was visualizing her traversing The Great American Southwest.

“When I got there, it was quickly apparent that they didn’t like me and I didn’t like them.”

“What was that about?” I asked.

“They didn’t think I was ‘good enough’ for their son,” she said. “So we got an annulment.”

I took an instant dislike to these Arizona upstarts. Not like my mom? Humph, I thought. Who did they think they were?

“So now you know,” Mom said. “Now stop looking so shocked. Close your mouth and eat your sandwich. And sit up straight. I taught you better than that.”

Grant McGee is a long-time broadcaster and former truck driver who rides bicycles and likes to talk about his many adventures on the road of life. Contact him at his blog: grantmcgeewrites.com