They still greet eachother with a kiss or two, still hang out and spend time with one another and still manage/managed to be excellent parents and examples to us kids. One of my many favorite memories of them is when we were driving our 1980's navy blue Chevy van from North Carolina to Texas up to Utah in the early 90's. My mom was driving and wanted to keep listening to her Michael Bolton cassette tape. My father could stand no more and popped the tape out to exchange it for Bruce Springsteen. A quick verbal smack down ensued and pretty soon Michael was dangling out the window on the passenger side while Bruce hung on to dear life out the drivers side window. My parents must have driven like this is silence for a half hour or so before one of them gave in (it's funny I don't remember who buckled first). I can't remember what they settled for in music terms but it's that kind of funny playfulness that has probably gotten them through some really tough, shitty times. My father going off to fight and fly Prowlers in Operation Desert Storm for two years while we lived in cockroach infested base housing, coming home and moving us across the US to live with my grandparents, going to school full time while my mother worked full time making $12 an hour while supporting a family of five and paying a mortgage, my moms thyroid disease and subsequent diabetes, my dad constantly moving us to different states, my brothers seizure disorder and my sisters cancer. My parents have been through a lot of shit together and still manage to look amazing and live their lives while supporting eachother in their endeavors. I have never felt so much love and respect for two people and I am grateful and thankful every single day that my mother didn't end up going to college at Wellesley and instead stayed in her home state to attend Kansas University where she met her "cowboy."
No comments:
Post a Comment