Day 03 - Parents in Great Detail

So, my parents in great detail...

Well, there's my mom Trudy. She's an elementary math teacher, she's a diabetic with Charcot's syndrome in her feet. She has a history of not taking care of herself physically. She recently had a gastric bypass done in a last ditch effort to lose weight. It seems to be going well, but I do worry that after losing the weight, once she's able to eat normally again that she'll gain it all back in effect nullifying the surgery. We are not close. She is pushy and overbearing and as she's fond of saying, "If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody gonna be happy." While she never outwardly said she'd have been upset if I had brought home low grades, it was mostly implied that that would be a no-no. She had a hard time (still does actually) letting me make and be responsible for my own mistakes. She hasn't always done right by me, but I know she means well. It was in a word difficult growing up with her as my mom, but she's still my mom and I love her. And for all that I don't like to admit it we have similar personality traits.

My dad is Frank. Actually, that's his middle name and despite his mother hating that he did so, he's gone by his middle name since elementary school. My dad is 9 years older than my mom and they met in a band. He is very much the nerdy technology guy, sort of comes with the territory because he's a recording arts engineer for a university local to their house. Much as I love my dad, he can be a bit of a pushover. There were many times growing up that I'd go to him complaining that Mom was treating me unjustly and he would agree with me that she could have handled it better, but when push came to shove it was never enough for him to actually stand up for me against her even when he probably should have. It takes a lot to make my dad blow over in anger and he tends to take the path of least resistance whenever possible. His short comings aside, he's a genuine, loving and insightful man and I felt closer to him growing up than he probably realized (certainly felt closer to him than to my own mother most times).

My parents have been married to each other for 30 years now so they must be doing something right. Between my mom's losing weight and my dad's natural inclination to be healthy as a horse hopefully they've got another 30 years coming. All in all I'm glad they're my parents as they have most certainly shaped who I am as a person, and I'm very glad that they're not any more quirky or weird than they already are or else who knows how I would have turned out!