A Thoughtful Inquiry

Recently a  good friend asked if I had any regrets about having children. The question was unexpected, my initial response was brief. When she persisted I realized  a more fulsome reply was being sought. 

I've never thought of life in those terms. When I became pregnant the first time  I  declared impulsively,I wanted to be the mother of five sons. But I didn't actually plan the size or make-up of my family. Who has that power?

 

It seems to me I reached out and embraced life as it came to meet me. I seized the day. 

In the same week of the conversation with my friend,Charlie Rose had Brian Dennehy and Nathan Lane as guests on his show. They brought Eugene O'Neill's play, The Ice Man Cometh,from the  Bronx to Broadway. 

They talked a lot about Eugene O'Neill, his work and theirs.

O'Neill is a giant among playwrights. It's said he is third behind Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw for plays translated and produced all over the world. 

He had three children. Two sons committed suicide and he severed contact with  daughter Oona when she married Charlie Chaplin. He was fifty-four and she was eighteen.

Oona was two when her parents divorced and never saw much of her father. She had eight children, seventeen grandchildren  and never divorced. 

Brian Dennehy told Charlie Rose as O'Neill lay dying he talked about the illusion of life and how meaningless.

Evelyn Buck