Chapter 17 - Why Marjorie Needed the Trip
By this point I understood the chores.
Still not why international travel felt necessary to her.
Dr. Miriam Lowe, the family therapist, eventually asked Marjorie:
“What did Canada provide that Fletcher’s home could not?”
Marjorie answered:
“Distance.”
There.
From me.
If Ione cried at home, I intervened.
If Ione complained by phone, Marjorie believed I would:
“undo the lesson.”
At Antoinette’s farm, Marjorie imagined a closed environment.
No housekeeper.
No father rescuing.
No bedroom full of familiar comforts.
Work.
Routine.
Other children.
A chance to prove Ione could function without being emotionally centered.
That goal had a kernel of developmental sense.
Children benefit from independence.
Sleepaway camp.
Grandparent trips.
School trips.
All can be good.
But independence cannot be created by removing the child’s right to consent and the parent’s right to decide.
Marjorie had confused:
distance from Dad
with:
growth.
She also confused:
discomfort
with:
development.
Those are not automatically the same.
Sometimes growth is uncomfortable.
Sometimes discomfort is simply suffering.
Adults must know difference.
May you like
She did not.
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