"Why are you my uncle?"
So asked my 8-year-old nephew as I was driving him to Barnes & Noble this afternoon to check out dinosaur books and Naruto comics. These things always make me at least a little nervous, mainly because he's not my kid, so I want to respect any reasonable boundaries his mom might expect. Then again he ran around my wedding being a little camera hog to the photographer, so it's not like he hasn't been around Cavin and me as a couple for a while.
"Well, I'm his partner," I said, thinking that if he had to ask at this point, I might need to build up to the "husband" thing.
"So, you're brothers."
"Um, no. Your dad was your uncle Cavin's brother."
That got me a confused look.
"Okay, you know your uncle Phillip, he was your dad's brother and Cavin's brother, right? So, Phillip's wife is your what?"
"My aunt."
"So, she's your aunt because she's married to your uncle. Cavin's your uncle, so why am I your uncle?"
"Because...you're married to him!"
"That's it."
"Ha!"
And so with that covered, the conversation returned to questions about what "west" points to and what every last button in the car does.
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