Daddy, Can I Come Home?

[201 words] Several years ago, I met a life-long friend walking down the road. We stopped for a couple moments and exchanged greetings. I asked her how she and her husband were doing (they had married three months earlier). Her response startled me. She said, “Steve, we’re not together any more. I wasn’t happy, so I called my dad and asked him if I could come home, so that’s where I’m living now.” Compare this account with the following account of a young woman who had only been married for a few short months. Sobbing, this newlywed phoned her father and said, “Daddy, I’m not happy. Can I come home?” to which her wise father responded, “Honey, you know I love you, but you are home.” The father in the second scenario wisely understood what many people don’t understand today: In marriage, there is a “leaving” of father and mother…