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Sep. 25th, 2006 11:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypalToday is my parents' 36th wedding anniversary. That I remember it is odd, discomfitting, and worrying.
Hey, stop looking at me like that. I'm not a totally dysfunctional human...really. No babies on spikes over here decorating my apartment (and for once, I have witnesses to that fact).
No, I say that because my parents always celebrated their anniversary alone. My brother and I would know of the day through some sort of filter or whatever, but it wasn't a huge production. We weren't ever expected to do anything (and I can guarantee you that neither of us bought so much as a card in the 33 years of our combined existence). They did stuff for each other, we'd all eat dinner out (or occassionally they'd manage to go out alone I assume), but that was it. In fact, I can't remember any of the gifts they got each other except the toaster my dad bought my mom for their silver wedding anniversary. As much as my mom would tell that story for laughs, she did tell me that she was never mad about it -- after all, we needed a new toaster.
I guess that's the one thing that I've learned from them that I'll always be greatful for. Love doesn't have to be all consuming and dramatic to work and endure. Practical is just fine so long as both are practical (and omg are they to a fault). I know exactly what each of their pet peeves are about the other and I know that those are yin to the others yang. I also know that when my dad is gone, my mom puts chairs under the doorknobs of the doors to add extra security to the locks. And I know for all of his bitching, my dad worries beyond words whenever my mom runs so much as twenty minutes late past when she said she'd be home, even though he knows she won't be on time to her own funeral.
Give and take. They've given me a lot and I feel guilty that I've not been able to give more back to them. Every day something else reminds me exactly how much I lucked out on the parent lottery. There were a few rough patches, I suppose they didn't do everything exactly right, but they did the best they could and I can't imagine a thing they could have done differently. They gave me so much, but more than that, they raised me to never settle.
So to end the night, a few words of their combined wisdom through the years:
"Can't never did anything."
"The only person you can rely on absolutely is number one."
"Do everything that you want to before you get married. After that, do everything in the world that you can imagine before you have kids. Because after that, everything you do will be what they want to do." (My mom regrets this one and told me I no longer have to follow it. I think in a couple of years she'll tell me I don't have to be married to have kids if I'll just hurry up and give her her grandchild already).
"Turn off that #$%$# light when you leave the room. You're growing dumdum in there." (You had to be there).
Knowing how insane my extended family is, I am ever so thankful to have ended up with these two for parents, trust me.
Hey, stop looking at me like that. I'm not a totally dysfunctional human...really. No babies on spikes over here decorating my apartment (and for once, I have witnesses to that fact).
No, I say that because my parents always celebrated their anniversary alone. My brother and I would know of the day through some sort of filter or whatever, but it wasn't a huge production. We weren't ever expected to do anything (and I can guarantee you that neither of us bought so much as a card in the 33 years of our combined existence). They did stuff for each other, we'd all eat dinner out (or occassionally they'd manage to go out alone I assume), but that was it. In fact, I can't remember any of the gifts they got each other except the toaster my dad bought my mom for their silver wedding anniversary. As much as my mom would tell that story for laughs, she did tell me that she was never mad about it -- after all, we needed a new toaster.
I guess that's the one thing that I've learned from them that I'll always be greatful for. Love doesn't have to be all consuming and dramatic to work and endure. Practical is just fine so long as both are practical (and omg are they to a fault). I know exactly what each of their pet peeves are about the other and I know that those are yin to the others yang. I also know that when my dad is gone, my mom puts chairs under the doorknobs of the doors to add extra security to the locks. And I know for all of his bitching, my dad worries beyond words whenever my mom runs so much as twenty minutes late past when she said she'd be home, even though he knows she won't be on time to her own funeral.
Give and take. They've given me a lot and I feel guilty that I've not been able to give more back to them. Every day something else reminds me exactly how much I lucked out on the parent lottery. There were a few rough patches, I suppose they didn't do everything exactly right, but they did the best they could and I can't imagine a thing they could have done differently. They gave me so much, but more than that, they raised me to never settle.
So to end the night, a few words of their combined wisdom through the years:
"Can't never did anything."
"The only person you can rely on absolutely is number one."
"Do everything that you want to before you get married. After that, do everything in the world that you can imagine before you have kids. Because after that, everything you do will be what they want to do." (My mom regrets this one and told me I no longer have to follow it. I think in a couple of years she'll tell me I don't have to be married to have kids if I'll just hurry up and give her her grandchild already).
"Turn off that #$%$# light when you leave the room. You're growing dumdum in there." (You had to be there).
Knowing how insane my extended family is, I am ever so thankful to have ended up with these two for parents, trust me.