Parental Tension

I remarked a couple of entries ago about parental tension in my work, at least recently. In My Daughter, the Martian (Writers of the Future XXI) you've got a whole mother-daughter relationship that is the key relationship and perspective. In my alien Elvis story, Yumiko's mom bugs her about getting married and settling down. And, without even thinking about it, in my zombie Errol Flynn story, I toss off some thought about parental disapproval of a character's language.

What's funny about all that is, although I've certainly gotten criticism from my parents, no doubt well-deserved, I've never got that societal pressure *from them* to marry, have kids, and settle down. As far as I can recall, I have never had my mother point out some nice man I know and tell me he would be a good provider. I've never had my folks ask when I'll give them grandchildren.

I get all that from the rest of the world, so, it's not like I'm lacking the message or the pressure, but all my folks ever said was "be happy", and things like that. Maybe that's why I use that exchange between parent and child, b/c to me it's archetypal, shorthand for something we all understand, even those of us who haven't experienced it.

Did you know

Did you know there is such a thing as the Edison Electric Institute? And they put out a Statistical Yearbook of the Electric Utility Industry on a regular basis?

Learn something new every day.