William Carrigan loves his parents, and until recently, has maintained a pleasant relationship with them. They met at least once a week for dinner and he often attended church or other events with them. But recently, Carrigan has been checking his Caller ID and ignoring phone calls from his mother.
“It all started in my early twenties, but it was more subtle then. Mom would always ask if I was dating anyone while making conversation, and when I went shopping with her, she made it a point to enter the mall by the baby clothes section, where she would browse the racks,” explains Carrigan. “As I approach 30, her attempts to marry me off so she can have some more grandchildren are getting much more bold.”
Mrs. Carrigan uses many tactics on her son, including buying baby gifts for all his married friends who have newborns and telling him about it, attempting to set him up with any female she meets, and suggesting names for his first born. “One time her and dad even left my phone number on the credit card receipt at a restaurant trying to get the waitress to call me. Although she was cute, that was kind of embarrassing,” said Carrigan. “And of course, she never called. She had probably just watched ‘Psycho’ or something and was wary of guys with overprotective mothers.”
He is presently dating a girl, but does not want to discuss the relationship with his mother for fear of over-exciting her. “We’re doing pretty well, I’m even thinking of buying a ring. But mom doesn’t care about all that, she wants to skip straight to babies,” he said. “We want to enjoy ourselves awhile before having kids. We’d like to travel. Fortunately another friend of mine just had a baby, and I am encouraging mom to visit them so maybe she’ll leave me alone.”
Until then, William Carrigan will be avoiding his mother’s calls as much as he can while still being polite.