Christmas Homecoming, by Norman Rockwell, 1948, from The Saturday Evening Register. The painting includes
Rockwell’s first son (center), the artist himself smoking a pipe, and several other members of his family.
back to its source: a fiveyearold girl, a charm
ing little demon seed destined to be either the
senator from Washington state or a profession
al dominatrix when she grows up. When her
parents divorced, they told their only daughter
they couldn’t stay married because they weren’t
in love anymore. These words bounced around
the little rock tumbler that is her mind until an
opportunity to wound another child presented
itself. Her parents weren’t in love anymore and
couldn’t stay married, she told dJ. and since
his parents can’t get married, they can’t love
each other.
We’ve done our best to root this notion
out, explaining to dJ that while most men mar
ry women, and most women marry men, men
can marry men and women can marry women.
We’ve made a point of showing him samesex
wedding announcements in the “sunday styles”
section of the New York Times.
now dJ concedes that we could get
married, but he nevertheless insists that we
shouldn’t. if we do get married, he insists that
he’s not coming to the wedding. He’ll come to
the party after the wedding—provided there’s
cake—but there’s no way he’s going to the cer
