Mom's brutally honest essay about her emotionally unavailable son — who turned out fine?

A mom writes a candid character study of her eldest son (she has two boys, and the second is warmer/more affectionate — she jokes the second one feels more like a daughter).
She describes the eldest as classically stoic and emotionally closed off: never volunteers information, never tells her where he's going, only reports back AFTER the fact. Zero interest in others' problems — if something happens to him, her, his wife, anyone, his default reaction is basically 'well, that happens.' She found out through his homeroom teacher that he'd been bullied in middle school, and when she confronted him, he just said, 'The class lineup was gonna change anyway.' Days before this she'd heard he was being stalked and it was about to be on the news — she asked why he didn't tell her sooner and he said 'Just watch it on TV.' When he went MIA for days she filed a missing report and searched everywhere, only to find him admitted in a hospital. Classic him.
She also notes he figured out on his own in kindergarten that Santa and ghosts aren't real — she never told him. At age 5, when she threatened that a goblin (dokkaebi) would take him away for misbehaving, he smirked and said, 'Mom, do YOU believe in goblins?' Humbling. Anyway — this son is now getting married. She always knew he wasn't the dating type, and worried his new girlfriend might get hurt by how emotionally unavailable he is... but apparently he's been steadily dating her since he was 20. The mom concludes: marriage seems fine for him, and she's grateful the girlfriend seems to genuinely like him — though she's a little nervous, because the girl is already 30, and…
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Original post by 이것저것 on naver.com/이것저것. Translated by k-ssul.
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