As I type this, I find myself wiping tears away from my face. I don't cry ever, and I never thought seeing my parents drive away after dropping me off would bring me to tears so easily. But here I am admitting that I miss them already.
My parents hopped on a plane at LAX, with a dream and their cardigans, and traveled just under 2,000 miles to visit me for two short days in the good old city of Milwaukee. Why they would do this is beyond me, I mean air travel is a pain in the you-know-where, and to me it seems absurd that they would travel that far just for such a short amount of time.
But not for my parents, you see they would go out of their way to do just about anything for me, I mean any parents would. Our parents love us more than life itself, and they really do miss us. And as much as we don't want to admit it, we miss them more now than we ever thought we would.
This weekend marked parents' weekend for Marquette University, and for the first time ever, my parents came to visit. Naturally they wanted to take part in the cheesy parent activities, but no, I just really wanted them to buy me food. So that's what they did, they bought me a whole lot of food.
This weekend I learned that my dad still is still as embarrassing as ever, and I learned that my mom still thinks she's the next Jimmy Fallon when she cracks a joke.
But what I truly realized this past weekend, is that my parents are always going to be the ones who make me feel better when I'm sick, who are going to make me feel safe when I'm scared, and are always going to be the ones to reassure me that I am indeed loved.
I didn't realize just how much I missed them until they pulled up Friday afternoon to take me out to lunch. At that moment, I couldn't tell if I was more excited for the free meal they were about to buy me, or if I really was just excited to see the two people who have been my support system for my entire life.
After eating way too much, my parents asked the usual questions. Ya know, like, "Do you have a boyfriend?," "Did you find a job for next year yet?," and my favorite one, "Are you getting enough nutrients?" After giving them what seemed like sufficient answers for each question, I took them to my favorite place.
The grocery store.
This is the place where all things that make me happy can be found. And by all things I really just mean one thing, the one thing that can be referred to as food.
On the surface it might seem like all I want from my parents is free groceries and meals, but really I just missed them. As a senior in college it seems that all of our futures are full of uncertainty, but thanks to my parents, the worry of where I'll be at this time next year disappeared. While the worry is on its way back, it was nice to be stress-free for a few days.
Yes, my dad might have taken pictures of everything, and yes he might have startled people by getting into the wrong car not once, but twice, but I still love him.
My whole life I grew up excited to live on my own, and while angsty teenagers such as myself all feel like they don't need their parents, I'm here to tell you as an almost 22-year-old that you really do.
You know that saying, "Can't live with em, can't live without them?" Yeah that's how I feel, except I know for a fact that I can't live without my parents.
I love you guys more than you'll ever know.
