SEMI-SERIOUS SATURDAY POST

Doesn’t it seem odd that the older we get, the more important to us our parents become. As children, we saw them in a different light. We thought of them more as the nutrition and hygiene police. They made us wash behind our ears and always wear clean underwear. They made us eat our vegetables and they limited our sweets. They told us how to dress and when to go to bed, and we resented that.

When we became teenagers, they became the curfew patrol, making certain that we were home before eleven, always needing to know where we were going and where we had been, and what we were doing. We thought of them as old fashioned and “behind the times”. We swore we would never be like that with “our kids” when we became parents. We often thought of our parents as an interference in our lives.

But after we grew up and got married and began to raise our own kids, a funny thing started to happen. We began to realize how many times our parents had been right and we had been wrong. We began to see how much more they knew about life than we did. We actually began to seek their advice and expertise on everything from how to boil water without burning it, to the correct way to change a diaper on a newborn.

Then as our kids began to grow up and the cycle continued, WE became the nutrition and hygiene police, the curfew patrol and the interference in THEIR lives. I remember when my son was small. He was in the middle of his “Terrible Two’s” when he began to assert his “I’m smarter than you” attitude. On one particular morning he woke up grouchy…(well actually “Grouchy” had already left for work). Anyway, he was cranky and when I fixed his breakfast he suddenly threw the piece of toast on the floor and gave me a mean look. “Why on earth did you do that?” I demanded, looking around for my sweet baby boy and wondering where this little monster had come from.

“Cuz you put the butter on the ‘wong’ side of the ‘bwead’!” he shouted, his little face all red and angry. I had to turn away in order to scold him. I didn’t want him to see me laughing. To this very day, it always takes me a while to butter a piece of toast. I turn it over three or four times trying to decide where to put the butter.

When we’re young we tend to take for granted the love and natural concern that are a part of being a parent… the kind of love that is unselfish and unlimited. And long after they are gone, we still remember the small things they did to make our lives more comfortable, the sacrifices they made for us and the many ways they brought us joy.

Mama used to tell me that I was pretty. I believed her. Mama never told a lie in her life. I suppose all parents think their kids are pretty. A sincere compliment for no reason always warms the heart. Mama gave me a million and one wonderful moments in my life. Mama told me every day that she loved me and I knew that no matter what I did, she would always love me.

She’s been gone for three years now. But I will always remember her teachings. I will remember all the wonderful things she did for her children. I wonder if she knew just what a smart, wonderful lady she really was. I wish I could tell her one more time…

If your parents are still with you, let them know every day just how much you love and appreciate them. They deserve to know.

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Tags: growing up, love, parents, sacrifice