Re: Elaine/TJ
"I'm not sure if that's a compliment or not." TJ snorted softly. "That part of it really wasn't, though, Mom. Not the constant travel, never having enough time to stop and look around. Doug and I were in school for both of Dad's terms. So, the only travelling we did with you was during the summers. And after, when we weren't in school, Doug is the one that saw the world with you, Mom. Doug's the one who visited a hundred countries with you. You brought me on the campaigns, skiing holidays in the Alps, but no, that part of it wasn't my life, too."
He stared at her a moment and then sighed. "Of course I hear the difference. I've heard the difference, seen the difference, and been told the difference my entire life. You knew what you were going to do because that is who you are. You do things. You see something to be done and you do it because you know you can, you know you're the best for the job. I'm pretty sure if you cut a vein you'll bleed politics. I just bleed."
For a moment, his mother sounded so much like Doug, TJ blinked to make sure he was still talking to her and not his twin. "I guess that's the part I don't understand, that sounds like giving up, which is not what any of you do. You're not the people who give up. I am. Our lives aren't over; they're changed. Please don't take this the wrong way, but Doug and I are over thirty years old, Mom. The time to focus on us was when we were kids. You're only sixty. You should find something else that makes you happy. You can't spend the next twenty years living for two adults who should get their own lives, wherever we end up, be that here or six dimensions away."