Bittersweet Happiness – Why Isn’t This Young Lady Good Enough for You? She’s a Wonderful Girl: Modest, Tidy, Studious—And She Loves You. A Mother’s Worries for Her Nearly Forty-Year-Old Son Who Can’t Settle Down, His Trail of Relationships, And the Unexpected Arrival of True Love with a Woman Seven Years His Senior, Mother of Three, Living in a Hostel—Culminating in the Birth of Their ‘Sunshine Child’ and the Joy and Challenges of Their Unusual Family

BITTERSWEET JOY

What is it that you dont like about this young lady? Shes a good girl, well-mannered, tidy, does well in her studies. She adores you, Mum said reproachfully, looking at me across the kitchen.

Mum, let me deal with it I meant to put an end to this pointless conversation.

She left the room, but I could hear her thoughts in her heavy sigh.
Hell deal with it, he says… How many women has he gone through? Nearly forty, and still nothing is ever quite right for him. Hell soon be too old for any of them to want him.

Simon, come have your lunch, Mum called from the kitchen.

I responded straight away, and gladly tucked into her shepherds pie.
Thanks, Mum. As always, its lovely.

Better if you said that to your wife, not me, Mum still couldnt let it go.

Mum I sipped my tea, ready to leave the kitchen.

Wait a moment, love. Made me think do you remember that time I went to see a fortune teller? The woman took one look at me and declared:
Your son will have bittersweet happiness.

Oh, Mum, dont start believing all that, I said, grinning.

Women had come and gone at different times in my life.

Eleanor was clever, well-read, even wise beyond her years. She was nine years younger than me and always gave sound advice.
At first, I liked that. Then I started to see Eleanor more as a colleague, not a partner.
Everything felt lukewarm. We broke up.

Rebecca had an eight-year-old lad. I never managed to build any sort of relationship with him, though I thought I loved Rebecca. She was beautiful, but spirited impossible to live with. Each time we had an argument (over the silliest things), Id try to make up for it with presents. Something always seemed missing in those relationships maybe a little peace, or a sense of security.

And then there was Grace. She was the ideal. Women like her are rare
I almost married her. Grace was sensible, honest, pure the type you talk to with gloves on.
I moved in with her and was willing to start a family. Not less than two children.

But one day, I came home early from a work trip, and there was Grace, in bed with her old schoolmate. The classic story

So I returned to Mum. Decided Id had enough of all that romance.
Ill stay single. Not a bad option, really. The strongest family is a family of one, I would tell my Mum wryly.

She would sigh and shake her head.
Surely youll find your match one day, love

And fate did turn up just when I least expected it.

On another work trip, I took my usual bottom bunk on the train. A woman entered the carriage:
Excuse me, would you swap with me? Could I have the lower bunk?
No problem, I said.

I looked her over nothing remarkable, really. Yet my heart skipped a beat.
Perhaps this is fate

I climbed to the top bunk and drifted into a doze
How good that youre awake. Come down and join me for a bit of supper, the strange woman cooed.
I obliged, and we got chatting.

Catherine, she said when I asked her name.
Simon. Pleased to meet you, Catherine.

We spent the whole evening talking. It felt natural and easy to be around her. I didnt even try to impress her. It was as if Id known Catherine all my life.
We traded numbers just in case.

A couple of weeks later, I found myself wanting to hear Catherines voice.
And so it began
Dates, kisses, promises
I couldnt understand how Id ever managed to live without this woman. Forty, and yet here I was, lost without her.
Id always been able to let go of other women easily. But not with Catherine. No boundaries, no defences.
I wanted to sink right into her life.

She showered me with true, gentle love, tender care, and understanding.
After three months, I offered Catherine my heart in the palm of my hand.
Simon, Im seven years older than you. Ive three children. We live in a council flat,” she was always honest, never one for secrets.

“And Im a widow.”
Cathy, I know all of this. Ive met your children. Youll live with me. End of discussion.
I love every part of you. Youre my unexpected and final woman, I said, kissing her.

Well, Simon, lets give it a go, Catherine said, blushing.
No, Cathy, not just a go. Well be together always, I took her hand. Hear me? Always.

Mum only muttered when she heard of my plans:
After all that choosing and he ends up with the plainest of the plain…

Nine months later, we welcomed a child into the world. A little girl a ray of sunshine.
I fussed and worried endlessly for Catherine, hoping she wouldnt lose herself under the strain.
A child with Downs endlessly challenging.

Now our daughter is eight. The whole family adores her, absolutely dotes on her.
I worship Catherine.

Its bittersweet but oh, how happy.