To My Mommy and Daddy

Living with parents is not all that bad. Since my sisters aren’t here, I feel like an only child. Once in a while that’s hard because 100% of their attention is on me (nag nag nag). Other times, it’s good because 100% of their attention is showered only on me.

My mother bought lunch for me today. Did I tell you that she makes my lunch every morning before I go to work each day? She gets up at 5am to do that. Sometimes my dad will do that too. They both walk me to the garage and watch me depart every morning. In the evening, we sometimes have dinner together, and I can openly talk to them about stuff, like teaching, dating, boys, and other weird stuff. We had a humorous conversation about the "correct" way of courting between boys and girls, and what's proper and improper for girls to do when playing hard to get. They revealed the silly things they did while they were still dating, which later turned into a "he said/she said" debate as they tried to understand my relationship with guys. It's strange, but I never would have had a conversation like that in the past. Only recently did I start opening up to my parents... since I started this job, actually.

As I get older, I appreciate my parents more and more. Now that I’m old enough to understand the hardships of raising kids, I try not to aggravate them as much. I should know better by now that I should give them respect. I’m old enough to take care of myself at this point, too, but parents are parents. No matter how old you are, they’re still older than you. I may be college educated and “knowledgeable,” but my parents somehow still put me in my place. My mom will always watch out for me, therefore she still makes my lunch to make sure that I’m eating everyday. Most people would feel like a child for accepting lunch Made by Mom, but some moms will never change. And children, no matter how much they grow, are still children in their parents’ eyes.

If we like to indulge in our little roles, it’s not going to hurt us. It seems to bring us closer. We reminisce on the past and can now laugh at the stupidity of teenagers (yeah, I admit it--I was stupid at times). I have to say that parents do know everything. And as we laugh, I think we appreciate each other more. I'm sure that both my parents look at all their daughters and think, "I've done a good job raising them." As I look at my parents, I think, "They sure did."