I am getting ready to make the drive home again, even though I was just there for Eastern's Fall Free Days. See, my mom wasn't feeling well, and I missed spending time with her so I promised I would come the following weekend so we could catch up more.
I have missed hearing how she is, especially how work is going since I worked at the same company with her this past summer. I miss sitting on top of the kitchen counter as she cooks, talking with her, telling her my stories as she laughs at my ridiculous and silly voice inflections and hands as they motion and flail widely. I miss hearing her advice, her encouragement, and her hugs, all of which make me feel loved and safe and at home.
My dad and I had some time together during break. We went out for lunch at some hip coffee shop suggested to us, and then ended up at a bookstore, no surprise there. I loved hearing my dad as he looked through the music and history sections, talking about the autobiographies he's read of artists he loves, and the events in history which he finds fascinating and thought provoking. I stepped away for a moment to do my own searching and I took a moment to watch him as he took in the books, thinking to myself how privileged I am to have a father who's so well read, so interesting, and so willing to share it all with me.
This is what it is like to be friends with your parents; we like to be around each other, we miss each other when it's been a long time, and we value and seek each other's counsel and wisdom amidst life circumstances. It is not strange for me to have my parents ask me about plans or decisions in their lives, or to seek out my views or opinions on people or current events. And for us, it's natural to share with each other how much we mean to each other or how proud we are of each other's accomplishments. We freely express concern for well-being or bad habits because we know ultimately, we all want the best for each other.
A lot of it has to do with how my family has always been: open and honest about feelings, emotions, and difficult decisions and situations, but it also has to do with our experience with loss. That time in the hospital as a family as we went through the cancer journey and eventual death of my sister brought us close together and we bonded through the pain and realized how important and valuable family is to life.
I have always looked up to my parents, how well traveled they are, their roles in ministry and in the church, how they love to have a good time and be silly but can get serious and talk about what matters as well. I often think to myself how lucky I am to have been blessed with such incredible, compassionate, and wise individuals. And I think God gave me them because he knew I would need them to get through the loss of Emilee. I am so blessed to have them, and I am so glad that I can not only call them my parents, but my closest friends.
Love you, Mom and Dad.