Ramblings about my Heritage

I am here at my computer because there is so much running through my mind that I can't sleep. I am so grateful that I was raised by God fearing parents who loved my siblings and I with a love that never gave up on us no matter how far we may have tried to push away. They were of course human, but lived each day for the purpose of showing us the love of God. Sure they made human mistakes(they never claimed perfection), but to this day I hold no grudge against them. I can only hope that I and my wife meet the standard of parenting that they set for us. I disagreed with a lot of their decisions, but never their intent. In fact many of those decisions will never reach an agreement by either party. It has been said that a good parent becomes a good friend when your child reaches adulthood and I have seen my parents and I become friends, don't get me wrong I still go to them as the Godly parents they are but I enjoy their company as a friend. Growing up I never wanted my dad to go shopping with me when shopping was for shoes or clothes. He always seemed to have a knack for picking out the bobo shoes(don't ask me it just meant nerdy lol), which to be honest I don't even think he would have been caught dead in. Now that I am old I enjoy shopping with him(i hate shopping though), of course he still doesn't get to choose my clothes. For the record until I got to college I had only ever owned a name brand pair of shoes once and that is honestly one of my greatest regrets. My mom on the other hand was the shopper who never seemed to pick up the wrong pair for me. She was also forcefully protective of her kids, sometimes to the embarrassment of them lol. I remember when I was nearly 18 there was a girl who had decided to start calling me. I was handling it my way, in the hopes that she would just lose interest soon. However she continued to call.. a lot. Finally she called one day and asked my mom for me and my mom told her she could talk to me when my mom could have a conversation with the girls father, needless to say that was the last time I heard from that girl. Now I was furious that my mom had interfered and to this day think my way was working just fine, but she handled it in her way and to this day she thinks she was right. I can agree with her in one point only, she did it because she loved me and that's all that matters because honestly that girl was nothing to me. As many of you know I am not the family person that most people are, I don't like crowds even if I know them. I get uncomfortable and have to leave rooms when I hear tons of voices all in their own conversations. But I don't think there are many days that I don't call my parents just to talk.. ramble. I recently went to visit them over Thanksgiving break, which was the first holiday in a long time that we were all together. I used to think I got my love of books from my mother, but now I know I got that from my dad after seeing his massive collection of books that have grown a lot since I left home, from my mom I got a love of reading. My mother's library mostly resides next to her tub taking over most of the bathroom. During the visit I got to play drums during the service and she remembered that my favorite song from the Red backed Hymnal was Keep on the Firing line, which to be honest I had almost completely forgotten. My dad ties as many knots as I do when he packs, and has the issues about being in the drivers seat yet he let me drive for some reason. They have both taken my wife into their nest, she loves them as if they were her parents. We were in church regardless of circumstances that might keep some people out of church, like the Superbowl. My dad once set up the camcorder to record the Superbowl because it was starting right in the middle of church. When I look back I am glad for the example they set. In church on Sunday we prayed for the children, the teens, then the parents and finally the people that no longer had kids at home. Each prayer was touching in and of itself, however the last group hit home for me more than any other. Those people have rasied the next generation and passed the mantle of parenthood down, just as my parents have and now they liberally claim gradparental rights to their grandchildren. To mine I say well done and thank you have at your grandkids!