Siranush Mehranian had not gone to college to find a husband. She’d always had a zealous flair for dimension, light, and space, and she had her sights set on a career in architecture. She’d even got a job at an architectural firm just out of college. But then came Armen, and Siran discovered motherhood. She simply hadn’t foreseen the adoration that she would come to feel in her heart for her children, regardless of her affection for architecture. She quit her job and didn’t look back until years had passed.
As Armen and Cindy grew up, school and diversions led them out of the house, and they approached their mother less frequently. Siran suddenly found that she had time for something besides her twin beloved ones, and her interest in architecture resurfaced. Siran began to think about looking for a way back to the calling of her youth. She had mixed feelings, and didn’t rush into it, but she managed to let the local firms know that she was available. She’d occasionally send out sketches for informal review, and even received nominal payments on a couple occasions as gestures of thanks for ideas that she’d submitted for consideration. Garegin began to suspect that Siran might not be able to bear to stay at home while the kids were at school. He sometimes wondered, as a humble history teacher, why he hadn’t been the one to stay home. So Garegin encouraged Siran to resume her artisanship.
It would be a couple years before she would get a part-time job, and another year further before she found full-time work. She was often troubled by her decision to work. She sometimes questioned her worthiness as a mother, imagining that she had abandoned her children. “They’ll be fine” Garegin would reassure her. “Cindy is an independent girl, and Armen, well, you know where he can be found.”
So Siran continued to work, leaving the house empty for the kids after school, and often leaving Garegin and the kids to fend for themselves when suppertime arrived. She continued to feel uneasy about the arrangement, and often woke at night from dreams of missing children. Garegin assured her that the dreams were normal and natural, though he was hardly an authority on the maternal psyche. “The kids can use a little independence,” he insisted. It wasn’t that he didn’t worry, but he felt that Siran’s dream was worth the gamble.