Not many of us realize how much our parents are doing for us, whether it’s giving up their own time or money to raise us. In recent years, I have come to appreciate my parents a lot more than I did when I was younger, and here are some reasons why I have come to appreciate them and love them more than I may have in the past.

They pay for just about everything.

From dance and piano lessons, to Girl Scouts and band and choir trips, to college, my parents have found a way to pay for pretty much everything. It has all allowed me to have fun and to grow as a person and become who I am now. When I was in high school, my parents paid all of the fees there were for band and choir, some of which were instrument rentals and uniform fees as well as the t-shirts and yard signs. They even paid for me to go on both the band and the choir trips each year, which cost a lot, even to give me spending money to use on the trips themselves. I was able to go to Washington D.C., California with Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, and even New York in just a span of four short years.

Even now, my parents are paying for my college education, and have even been paying for the big choir tours at the end of the year, some of which have been international tours to European countries. Thankfully they have even given me spending money for even those trips.

And let’s not forget that I have a younger brother who has also been in band and has gone on band trips, as well as being a member of the high school’s bowling team. My senior year of high school when he was a freshman, my parents had to pay the band fees for two students as well as for both of us to go on the band trip that year. And it’s not all school; they’ve paid for other things as well such as Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, including whatever camping trips and events there may have been that we went to, and even what medical fees there could be for various doctors or dentists.

Not only are they paying for things my brother and I are doing, but they may also be paying for things for themselves. When I was in middle school, my mom was taking some classes online. Even now, she’s been taking classes and even goes to work out various days of the week.

And amongst all that, they have found ways to pay for fun, such as movies, or buying new games to play at home.

They give up their time for us.

When I was younger I didn’t like going to my brother’s band concerts or waiting on him at his piano lessons or the doctor’s. It wasn’t until recently that I realized my parents may not have enjoyed that either. Though I will say that band concerts can be good sometimes, I mean, they sat through all of mine as well.

Both of my parents have given up their time to take my brother and I to our various rehearsals or meetings as we grew up, when they could have been doing something completely different with their time. When I was still in high school, the fall semester was pretty hectic with marching band since I had to be there early in the mornings, and there were Monday night rehearsals, and then the football games usually on the Friday of each week.

They taught me to be sarcastic.

Okay, now this is an odd one. This past semester I found out that sarcasm is actually not something you should use around children since it could cause them to act disobediently, but I grew up with it. There have often been times where my parents wonder where I got all my sarcasm from, but they already know that I got it from them.

It may not be seen as a good trait to have, but in a way, I think it gives people a little bit of a spark to anyone’s personality, assuming they don’t use it in a bad way. Sarcasm can be amusing sometimes, which is really the only reason why I use it, but I can understand it to be annoying or frustrating.

They love me for me.

But of course, they’re supposed to, right? I know I have frustrated them a lot throughout my life which things I’ve done, or maybe more so with things I maybe didn’t do in a timely manner. Both of my parents understand that I’ve got my quirks, just as they have theirs, and they love me unconditionally. I know that I’m lucky, because not everyone has parents like that, and not everyone has parents that will find a way to pay for things like band and choir trips.

My parents are two of the best people I have had and will ever have in my life, and I love them very much, though I feel that I don’t show it often enough.