parents

I recently found out that a couple of my co-workers, both around my age, had lost a parent - one lost his mom when he was 12 and the other lost her dad when she was 14. I found out in awkward moments where I had wished I hadn't asked the questions I had asked, but any normal person would have probably asked the same questions.

After Mother's Day had passed, I asked him "So what'd you do for Mother's Day?" He replied, "My mom passed away when I was 12 so we all decided to go hunting to try and forget about it."

On another day, I had asked "So what are you doing this weekend?" She replied, "I'm going to visit my dad on Sunday." So I asked "Where at?" And she said "At the cemetery. My dad passed away when I was 14. All the smoking and drinking that he did way back when finally caught up with him."

I didn't know how to respond to these answers they gave. All I could do was say "I'm sorry." But it made me think a lot afterwards about how lucky I am to still have both of my parents, alive and well, still happy and content. It's so hard to imagine life without them being here doing the funny quirky things they do that make me laugh, like how my mom bought shoes the other day for when she goes on vacation to Burma, but we don't really know when we're going, or like how my dad got this really ugly chair cover for his car seat because it was free and decided that he had to use it because he had it. Things like that make my parents my parents, and I love them for that. There's no one in the world who can replace them and I've learned to appreciate the time I get to spend with them because unlike my co-workers, I have the opportunity to do so and I've learned that I have to take advantage of that.