When my mother was younger, the story goes that she had a boyfriend for quite a while that very few approved of. He had masses of blonde hair and smoked and drank more than a few and I don't know if she ever loved him but I can only really assume that she did. I can't imagine my mother to ever be in love with another soul. They broke up. I don't know when and I don't know how, but my mother was a hairdresser and he was marrying a woman that he'd gotten pregnant, and sent his sister to see my mother at work on the day of the wedding to tell my mother that he'd call it all off if she showed up. She never did go, and they did get married, and I guess that they had that kid too, and I always wonder - was she scared to take that leap? Or did she really not want that for herself at all? We miss out on so much when we are not a part of our parent's lives. I wonder who they were before they became who they are. I wonder who they are when they're hiding in the depths of night and they don't have two children and a mortgage.