As much as we try, it seems we can not escape the grips of our parents. We run all over towns and cities to be independent, to be free from the choices they want to make for our own good. Who would have known, though, the telephone is inescapable when it comes to those spur of the moment thoughts that creep into the minds of our life givers.
We cry and whine about the experiences they wish to bestow upon us declaring our independence and our adulthood. But, and that is a huge but, when trouble strikes or hopelessness reigns down on our independent lives, we are always running back through that same phone wire.
They are our confidant, our rock, our pillar of good judgment and hope. Who knows better than us? Well, after almost thirty years I am finding out they did know beter than us.
When I visit, I find myself transformed back into a child. Transformed back into this helpless, needy child that is only searching for approval and guidance. I wanted so badly, when I was living with my parents, to be able to do what I wanted, to stay out as late as I needed to, or wanted to, to complete the night of fun with friends and strangers alike.
Every time a kid my age would be on the news for wrong doings, or a family member of mine would be out proving me to be more mature, I would throw those moments in my parents face to show them I was not quite the untrustworthy child they thought me to be.
You know what, though? I probably would have been.
If my parents did not keep as close of a watch on me like they did, I probably would have ended up a father at the young age of sixteen, or been into drugs and alcohol at an early age. I liked to experience new things, right or wrong.
I have a solid foundation that sits beneath my feet that keeps me grounded, as well as keeps my conscience holding a close eye on my decisions.
I did not like them for doing this while I was growing into this man I am today, but they were right when they said you will appreciate this later. Later is here and now I find myself being mature, still with some downfalls, but with a voice that screams into my ear giving me direction.
I never been the kind of guy to carry a compass in my pocket. I kind of always relied on instinct and rule bending to carry me along.
Some of the teachings I have rejected, but I kept with me all the important ones.
Love is definitely easier said than done.
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Escaping Time
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3 comments:
This is a very heartfelt and cerebral evaluation of Parenthood and Emancipation. I never really understood much of what I was taught until I became a Parent.
I have 4 children aged 5 to 22 and I treated each as an individual in accordance with their personality types. I have been so lucky because this has been the most rewarding part of my journey.
My guideline mandated that I was honest about how expertly I wasted my teenage years...it seems to have had some merit because the teenagers are all far better adjusted than I was.
As much as I would love to take some credit for that I realise that they did it on their own volition. They still have all the options that I had, maybe more, well I came of age in the 70s so it was fairly wild, anyway, somehow they have averted a lot of the sh*t that I immersed myself in.
Those of us who had Parents who cared about them are very lucky.
I recently commented at my friend's blog that we all seem to think that we are way cooler than our parents and were, and more horrible than our kids are. Overall the consensus was unanimous.
gee! is all i can say!!:)
Cooler than our parents? I doubt that. We are maybe cooler in our day and age that we have grown up in. I am a product of the 80's where free love came to a screeching halt. The abscense of condoms was not only a marvel but a show stopper when it came to friends we knew who never used them.
Now, were they cooler because they were going against the odds or were they cooler because they were going against the grain?
That is an individuals call I guess, but being cooler is in the eye of the beholder, much like beauty, and I look at this generation we call out future and I have to say that I am much cooler. Cooler only seems to be a total disregard for rules not a statement. So, if cool is ignorance, then cool is not what I would like to be.
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