I've always been told that if true love were easy then we'd all have it.
Well, from watching my parents, I can definitely say in all honesty, they are in love.
Not to mention they went through hell and back just to be together, but now that they are, I can tell that they are truly happy.
And so am I, it's a privelege to watch your parents be in love.
Not many people get that chance and I certainly don't take it for granted.
Oh!
I should probably introduce myself to you.
You're probably thinking, 'Well who is this random person going on and on about his lovey dovey parents and what not'.
My name is Henry Swan-Mills, and my parents are Emma Swan-Mills and Regina Swan-Mills.
And yes, the hyphen is necessary, unless you want to piss my moms off.
Take it from me, that isn't a good idea.
I guess you're wondering why the title of this story is 'It's Complicated'.
Two words: My grandparents.
I have three of them, my grandmother Cora, she's Regina's mom.
And grandma Mary-Margaret and grandpa David, they're Emma's parents.
They're always trying to give my moms advice on how to raise me and how to have a stable relationship.
We all live in the wonderful, loud, busy city of New York.
It's quite the life if you ask me.
Every morning I wake up to the smell of breakfast coming from the kitchen and I'm always greeted with a smile and kiss from my mom Regina, just so there's no confusion we'll call her mom.
Then my other mom Emma, we'll call her momma just because she always gives me a smirk when I do, never fails to ruffle my bed head before sitting down at the table next to me as we indulge in the breakfast mom cooked.
Sometimes momma would cook breakfast but ever since that small incident where a few dish towels caught on fire, mom insisted on cooking the meals.
Every once in a blue moon mom will let momma cook for us but she has to be supervised, it's kinda funny.
They're both the greatest parents a kid like me could ask for and I felt like I should share our life with the world by writing about us, so here goes nothing.
Today was the first day of summer and I couldn't wait to sleep in until noon everyday and watch cartoons in my pajamas while the house is empty.
Or so I thought.
It was 7 a.m. when someone burst the door to my room open, it was still dark in my room so I couldn't see who it was.
"Wake up Henry! You're going to be late for school!"
I recognized the voice almost instantly.
Mom.
If you could've seen my face, you'd understand why I said what I said next.
I sat up in my bed and grabbed my pillow, "Mom! IT. IS. SUMMER! Now please get out of my room!"
And like a fool, I threw my pillow at her.
Why did I do that?
I must've had a death wish because I could've sworn I saw her head spin when the pillow hit her.
I thought she was about to spit up green goo, like that movie The Exorcist, but luckily she didn't.
She just picked the pillow up and slowly walked over to me.
Meanwhile I'm silently praying that I live to see my next birthday,
"Henry…."
Oh God Henry, don't say anything.
Don't reply.
It's a trick, just pretend to be asleep.
Maybe she'll leave…
"I know you're still awake."
Crap!
Okay Henry, think!
Sleep walking!
No.
Mom's not dumb enough to fall for that, maybe momma but not mom.
It suddenly got really quiet, and I felt my pillow smack me in the face.
I just laid perfectly still, "Next time you try that, I'll send you to stay with your grandmother for half the summer!"
Oh no, not with grandma Cora.
Her apartment smelled like moth balls and mint.
And she doesn't have wifi…Who doesn't have wifi?!
But thank you God, she let me off with a warning.
As I heard her foot steps trail down the hall, my room became silent once more and I could resume my peaceful slumber.
I grabbed my pillow and cuddled it, quickly falling back to sleep.
Like I originally planned, I woke up a little after noon and the house was empty.
Mom was at work, she's the mayor of New York, and momma is a cop.
Sometimes I worry about my momma being out there in dangerous situations but she always tells me, "We all have a purpose in this life and mine is to protect. I have to keep this city safe for you and mom."
I know mom worries a lot about her too but she tries not to show it.
At least not around me.
I walked into the living room after grabbing the whole box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and the gallon of milk when I noticed a piece of paper taped to the TV.
They knew this was the best way to make sure I read the note.
My mothers know me so well, it's actually weird at times.
As I read the note, the handwriting was a bit sloppy.
Momma.
"Kid, mom wants you to clean out the garage and clean the living room before we get home today. Love, Ma. PS. She also said don't eat all the cereal because she just bought that box yesterday. And don't spend your day in front of the TV. PPS. I want some of that Cinnamon Toast Crunch when I get home so there better be some left! PPPS. Rematch on Call Of Duty when I get home!"
I couldn't help but laugh and be creeped out a bit at how well they knew me.
But I guess that's their job as mothers.
I ended up leaving half the box of cereal for Ma and I vacuumed and dusted the living room.
The garage, however was going to take a bit more work.
Wait.
They want me to have fun but give me these chores that will take hours to get done!
Seriously?!
I better get this done unless I want to sit through another hour long speech about how important it is to be clean and things of that nature.
Trust me, it's not something I would wish on my worst enemy.
My parents can drone on and on about the most smallest things.
It took me around three hours to clean the garage out but it wasn't too bad.
I found a box labeled Henry's Old Things and I figured what better way to spend the rest of my afternoon than reminiscing about my childhood.
I brought the box inside and sat on the couch as I went through it.
The first thing I pulled out was a photo album full of my baby pictures.
They sure did take a lot of them...
Then there were pictures of just mom and I, before Ma came along.
But that's a story for a later day.
The next thing was a baby blanket with my name embroidered on it.
Henry.
Named after my grandfather, mom always made sure I was proud to bear the name Henry.
At the bottom of the box were a cluster of toys that were covered in layers of dust.
But one thing in particular stood out, the one thing that I held close to my heart.
My stuffed teddy bear, Mr. Snuggles.
Don't judge me...
I used to suffer from terrible nightmares and mom promised that as long as I had Mr. Snuggles, I would be okay.
I still feel you judging me...
I took him out of the box and just looked at him, a bright smile on my lips.
I didn't hear the front door open and shut, nor did I hear heels clicking along the floor followed by the squeaking sound of boots.
"I know sweetheart but still, I don't think a cheeseburger would be wise for dinner tonight. I'm trying to watch my figure." I heard mom say.
Ma laughed, "I'm watching your figure too and it's perfect so why don't you stop being such a perfectionist and indulge in little piece of heaven."
"Mmm. I will, but that's later on tonight."
I dropped my head into the couch, gosh they were so corny.
I usually excused myself from the room when they began flirting.
"Can you guys not!?" I mumbled through the pillow.
They both just shared a chuckle before they each kissed my head.
"Did you clean out the garage?" Mom asked and I nodded.
"That's where I found this box with some of my old things in it."
Ma flopped on the couch next to me, grabbing the photo album and flipping through the pages.
"Babe, why was this album put up? It should be out here so we can show off how cute Henry was."
"Was? Psh, I'm still cute. I'm a hearth throb as a matter of fact."
Mom made her way into the kitchen, she usually liked to have a glass of wine every Monday when she got home.
Mondays were hard on them both but Ma enjoyed eating a burger and fries rather than drinking wine.
"Oh, I figured it would make you feel a bit uncomfortable since you aren't in any of the pictures. But we can leave it out if you want."
Mom sat down on the other side of me, sipping her wine as she grabbed the photo album to look through it as well.
"It's fine with me. The past is the past, all that matters is that we're a family now. Speaking of family, you know my parents are coming this weekend, right?"
Mom sighed and my smile got even bigger.
Grandma Mary-Margaret and Grandpa David coming meant I would get presents.
"How could I forget?" Mom smirked and gulped down the rest of her wine. "I'm going to need more wine..."
"I'm going to have to go out and buy some beer for dad. And vodka for me. I'm just glad your mom isn't coming as well. We don't need a repeat of what happened the last time."
Let's just say my grandparents butt heads a lot.
It's a story for another time...
"Right. Well, I'll go get dinner started. Henry, be sure to put this box away when you're done."
Mom stood up after taking her heels off and headed back into the kitchen.
"I hope you're cooking burgers!"
"In your dreams!"
"You're always in my dreams!"
"We're eating salad!"
"You enjoy killing my joy, don't you?"
"It's the highlight of my day!"
They always play around with each other like this.
Eh, I guess it's sweet in a way.
Ma ruffled my hair, "You didn't eat all the cereal right?"
I laughed, "There's half a box left. You're gonna need sugar to help you win this rematch."
"Pft. Keep dreaming kid. I'm going to kick your butt in this rematch."
Mom poked her head out the kitchen, "No butt-kicking!"
"Yes, yes we know Madame Mayor." Ma mocked, winking as she nudged me.
"Don't make me come in there with this wooden spoon!"
Yeah, I forgot to mention we aren't really normal.
But I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world.
Dinner was pretty quiet, Ma wasn't too happy with eating just salad.
She kept asking mom if this was a joke and where the meat was.
And of course mom just narrowed her eyes and ignored the questions.
I cleared the table while Ma went to change out of her uniform and into her pajamas.
Mom changed too and she was in her office talking on the phone.
I was still in my pajamas so I was good.
"Ready kid?" Ma asked as we both sat back down on the couch and grabbed the PS3 controllers.
"Question is, are you ready? I was born ready."
She smirked, "Big talk from such a small kid. Get ready to learn how it's done grasshopper."
We played for at least an hour and I won again.
Mom even decided to come watch us and she cheered me on.
Ma sulked, "That's so mean, you cheer the kid on but I'm your wife."
Mom lightly laughed, "He won the game but you get the prize."
"ALRIGHT! That's my queue to go to bed. Night guys!" I kissed them both on the cheek as they laughed at me.
"Good night sweetheart."
"Night kid."
I sat Mr. Snuggles on the shelf in my room and climbed into bed.
Today was pretty chilled, but who knows what the future has in store for us.