The Physics of Love

Book 1: Opposition -- Was it love? No. For him, our coupling was the opportunity to one-up my father, the biggest fish in a very small pond. For three minutes. For me, I don’t know that I really thought about anything. Except I did imagine the look on my father’s face if he could see me now. And that stayed with me much longer than those three minutes, in the back seat of a 1933 Mercury coupe, on a beach in Newfoundland.

Book 2: Momentum -- Was it love? Must have been. How else do you explain a childless couple in their fifties taking in a bastard child, to raise as their own, when everybody around them knew the truth? When they had so much to lose—the respect of their peers, their position in the church, the rung on that ladder he climbed so diligently. Of course, I don’t remember how the story began—I was only six months old at the time. And the story has been told and retold so many times I don’t know if the truth will ever be known.

Book 3: Convergence -- Was it love? Yes. That’s what family is all about, so the answer must be yes, right? But I’ve since learned that family is about a whole lot more than just love. There are complicated dynamics involved in blood relationships, marriage relationships, even those once and twice removed relationships. But one thing I know for certain: it is love now.