11:24 p.m. - 2006-11-24
Yo, Adrian!!!!!
There are a few important things I have learned in the last couple of days visiting my parents in their new home.
First of all I am loved. That is really hard for me to admit to myself. Neither one of them knows how to show affection in the traditional sense and I shouldn't be expecting it of them when they never got it from their parents. This is not malicious or even conscious on their part. As a result I have shut myself off from the world so they don't "withold" love from me. If it is never offered it can't be turned down!
Secondly, selling the family home after 40 years and moving to the country was absolutely the right thing to do. I see now that my mom may not have long to go and what lies ahead may be rather unpleasant, so until then I pray that she gets to see and enjoy all of the things she has been blessed with so far and not dwell on the fact that she didn't have them sooner.
Lastly, I don't want their stories to die with me. I endeavor to find people to share them with and hopefully, one day to have kids to repeat them to. The stories of Cape Breton. The legend of Giant MacAskill. Moving to Detroit to find work and start a family. I won't allow their lives to have been lived in vain. Everything I have learned from them, for good and bad, has made me the person I am today.
Thanks for the memories and let's keep making more.
