From Parents to People....

Back to Church...

My minister made a statement and shared a story...

He spoke of a woman with a young child, which became very ill on the way to visit her family. Since the woman's one sister was a pediatrician and the other a nurse she decided to continue to the house to obtain their opinions on the sick child. Immediately upon arrival the sisters conferred about the child's condition and came up with the best course of action. The sister/pediatrician wrote a prescription out for an antibiotic and addressed the child's fever.

With that, the three sister's mother entered the room and saw the sick grandchild. Upset over the child's condition the mother insisted that the little girl be taken to the hospital immediately where "real" doctors could tend to her.

The point? That parents struggle to view their children as competent adults.

Where as, at times, I do agree with this... I feel the situation travels in the other direction as well.

As little children we look up to our parents viewing them almost as super heroes. Our Daddies are big (as we are little), they can lift and cradle us with ease as if they have super strength, protect us, provide for us, kiss us good night and make us feel safe.


Our Moms are perfect... they bake for us, tend to our cuts and hurts, call us home from a mile out with the big old school bell, bundle us in coats and mittens to keep us warm and fill our bellies with hot chocolate and toast, that has butter and cinnamon sugar on it, when we come in after hours of playing and our mittens have finally failed. She is Christmas morning, Easter egg hunts and Thanksgiving dinners. She is tolerant of mud pies, grass stains and wheat shafts tangled in my hair from playing in the fields.... she is perfect.

But then we turn into teenagers and young adults and our parents are viewed as nothing less than disciplinarians!!! "Be home..." "Sit up..." "Don't do that... or that... or that...." We try to please, forever falling short, unable to live up to the image of our perfect parents that remains within us still...

Now I find myself as an adult, facing many of the same issues, which my mother had to face, albeit for different reasons... and like a curious child I am filled with questions eager to view her as a person, not a parent. I want to know how she dealt with certain issues, come to terms with my young adult perspective of those events, but mostly.... to get real honest answers from her in hopes of learning that just maybe she isn't/wasn't perfect and it's okay if I'm not perfect all the time either.

I know I'm not perfect. I know without a doubt that I have and will continue to make many mistakes. It would just be so very comforting to, just once, hear her say, "It's okay.. you know... I made the same mistakes when I was your age."

When it comes to Daddy... I will always be little and he will always be my big super hero.... I will never have the chance to get to know him as a man. But... as for Mom.... there is still hope... still time... to get to know her woman to woman... to experience parents turning into real people. It is not an easy transition... but one I am willing to endure. I think she is an amazing woman and I want to know all about her.

And who knows... in the process... I just might find part of me.