1794

"I never would have imagined", says the elderly Joseph. "You were always lacking in imagination, my dear husband", she retorts. "You were a carpenter. And a good provider. I need not have asked or expected more. But remember this, my dear. I did not choose you. You chose me, or rather our parents made a deal over us but please don't for one minute imagine that you were ever able to bring me to the heights of pleasure. You did give me five more children, after Jesus, but like all men, you have no idea what six successive pregnancies must have done to my body. Or my soul. My one single consolation is Jesus. A most wonderful, if often unpredictsble and frustrating child, but raising God in the family was not exactly going to be a cakewalk. And we were always making mistakes. "But weren't you submissive to your parents", asks Erik. "I was obedient. But submission and obedience are not always the same thing. And my endless curiosity and sense of wonder and adventure could sometimes create such problems as to push both my parents over the edge. They really didn't have a clue what they were doing with me, but they did better than a lot of others would have done, which is why I picked them." "But weren't you supposed to be perfect and sinless" say I. I was without sin. Not perfect. Two different things, and had I been perfect I would never have been human. My divinity was made perfect through my imperfection..."