Gill seems to be recovered from her surgery and back in action, although she’s not talking about that here.
It is a known fact that one can’t outsmart their parents. Whether you’re four and you eat that entire plateful of delicious chocolate chip cookies or sixteen and some bottles are no longer in the liquor cabinet, they know.
What’s My Point?
A few weeks ago I was facing some issues and feeling really sad. It must be a parental thing, because in a majority of e-mails my dad sent me he would include something to make me laugh or at least smile.
For Those Who Don’t know
My dad is a very soft spoken guy born in 1943, but his sense of humor is as big as his heart. Somehow he knows the right things for the right moment to cheer me up.
Something About Mom
My mom has style, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her daughter. She knows the right things to wear, how to decorate, and all about complimentary colors. We even share a love of neutral colors and unique decorating ideas. She also gets and empathizes with me on things, E.G. when my sister went in to this expensive boutique and I felt uncomfortable, she and I just sat together listening to music the next day.
Conclusion
So whether you think you got away with throwing that party in your house when your folks went to Europe, or you don’t think they get you, they do. You’d be surprised the next time your mom takes you for lunch at that little Italian place and knows you love the spaghetti Mario.
I would agree…but now I’m watching my folks slide down the other side of the hill and it’s disturbing. I mean, they’re with it, but they fall for things they never would have when they were younger. They can’t keep track of our lives…not that I would expect them to, but they were all over that stuff when we were kids. I’m not blaming them, but…well…it doesn’t seem quite as true at least for me.
In your case I think part of that is distance, but I notice that with my folks as well. Not so much the falling for things bit (I don’t count my dad because he’s got legitimate brain damage), but the keeping up with each other thing. We’re not nearly as far flung as your family is but even though we talk regularly we’re always catching up on stuff and surprising each other with things we didn’t know. Busy lives, I guess.
“So whether you think you got away with throwing that party in your house when your folks went to Europe, or you don’t think they get you, they do. “”
So much this. For years I’ve thought I was the black sheep of the family and that I was totally different from all of them. I could not have been more wrong. In the last year I’ve been getting a lot closer with my family, and while parents can be dorks sometimes, they are worried, anxious dorks who may not have been given the same opportunities to deal with their traumas as we have. I’m trying to remember this, especially in dealings with a particular parent that Steve and Carin have had the “pleasure” of meeting. But when you start to understand just how much you have in common with them it can be freakie. I have my mother’s intensity and temper and my dad’s hyper and emotional parts. I can totally see myself when I observe both of them and it makes me feel like as long as I can work through the anger and pain that the one parent seems to have lived for all time, if I can make sure to break that cycle, I will be healing seven generations before me and seven generations after. That’s an old indiginus concept; one with which I deeply resonate. Thanks for this post, Gille. My favourite one of your’s yet.