Most, if not all, of you dear readers are friends of mine, and you know a lot about me that doesn’t get shared on this space. I don’t often write about my family because I try to respect their privacy and that Niels is the only one whose name I share. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately and I feel I need to get it out there.
My childhood best friend’s father passed away last weekend; his illness and subsequent passing has had me thinking quite a bit about my own parents. My heart goes out to her because I can’t even being to imagine what it’s like to loose a parent. It’s not something I think I’ll ever be prepared to deal with.
When I was growing up I, like most children, sometimes wished I had different parents. I always thought my parents were the only ones in the world who said “No”. Like most there were things I wasn’t allowed to do, certain TV shows were off limits (they were too risqué or too violent). I didn’t have the hippest, newest clothes or toys, video games weren’t even an option. As a child I didn’t understand why they wouldn’t get me the things all my friends had (at least I thought all my friends had them).
Do I still have those feeling? Not way. I wouldn’t want anyone else to be my parents. I thank the Universe every day that I’ve been the parents I have. That’s not to say we’ve had a perfect relationship, because we all know there’s no such thing. We’ve had our share of fights. I’m very much my parents’ child, stubborn, outspoken and I sometimes don’t know when to let things go.
I know they haven’t always agreed with the choices I made,
but they very rarely stood in the way of me making those choices. Dad still
groans when he sees the tattoos and asks how I could do that to myself, but
when he asks what made me choose a design he’s genuinely interested in knowing what
lead to the decision. They were NOT keen on me and Niels going to
They want to know my friends; what was it about these people that made me want to be their friend? I used to hate it, especially as a teenager, but now I love it. Most of my friends consider my parents to be their second parents. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard “Your parents are so cool” or “Your parents are the first to not freak out over my [insert here]” They’ve taught me that a person isn’t to be judged by what they wear, the color of their skin, religion or sexuality, but from how they treat others. I’m not always good at remembering that, but you can be sure they’re good about reminding me.
I can’t say enough about them, they’re truly amazing people who make me want to be a better person.
