The Kite and the Line

The Crain family is anything but a normal family, mostly because they lived in an anything-but-normal house. At one point in the spooky TV series telling their tale, however, the estranged father Hugh shares some advice with his son that works just as well for normal people as it does for those haunted by the ghosts of the past: If you’re a kite, find your line—and vice versa.

“Your mom and I were married 15 years,” Hugh tells his son Steve. “Together five before that. She used to say she was the kite and I was the line. She was a creature of the clouds, and I was a creature of the earth. And she’d say that without me she’d become untethered, and she would float away up into the [sky]. And then without her, I would just, you know, crash, just drop right down to the ground. But, together…”

I, too, am a kite in need of a line, and in that respect, my girlfriend is the perfect partner for me. If there’s a hole in one of my lofty plans, she’ll find it and help me plug it before I take off. And however high I might soar, she always reminds me there are basics on the ground not to be forgotten. At the same time, I pull her up. I point towards the sunset and say, “Look, there’s something glistening over there, let’s go and take a look!” And sometimes, we do and find a treasure.

Your kite doesn’t need to be your partner, and your line won’t have to be the person you marry. Just make sure you find your other half—in a friend, in a spouse, in a family member—and stay afloat at just the right height together.