The Big 150: 17, Relationships – What traits do your parents have that you don’t want to adopt?

The Big 150: 17, Relationships – What traits and habits do your parents have that you don’t want to adopt?

This feels like I’m about to dump on my parents, which is a feeling I don’t particularly like. My parents have done so much for me in my life that some of the traits or habits I may find off-putting about them at this point have more to do with them getting older than anything else.

I don’t mean that in a ‘they’re getting old and that’s gross’ sort of way because I truly believe that it is a privilege in life to get older. I’ve known many a person at this point in my life who died before they should have, so I don’t believe aging is a negative thing. I’m turning 34 later this year (barring any unexpected disaster – please please please, let there be no unexpected disasters that cut my life short), and I view it as an honor to have as much time as I’ve had so far on this merry-go-round of life.

Okay, I’m getting sidetracked here. So maybe there is a trait that I don’t wish to adopt, and maybe the joke is that it’s already happening. My mom can get sidetracked and go off on all sorts of tangents, which used to absolutely drive me crazy. But the older she gets and the older I get, I’ve learned to try and appreciate her tangents and, thus, rebrand them as just a very longwinded story where all the details that seem not to matter actually do, in fact, matter very much.

Here's the deal with how I try to think about my parents’ quirks (because that’s all they are, and we all have them): my parents won’t be around forever, and if I’ve learned anything from previous loss, it’s that those unique, at times irksome, always authentic quirks make my parents who they are, and it’s those same quirks that I’ll probably miss the most one day when they’re no longer around.

To seemingly endless phone calls with my mother and honoring the quirkiness in one another,

Johny

ICYMI: The Big 150

Introductory Post

1, World: What event do you think impacted the world the most?

2, Random: What does your happy ending look like?

3, Self - When was the last time you left your comfort zone - how did you grow?

4, Life - Write about the place you call home.

5, Relationships - What is something not many people understand about you?

6, Self - What’s something you’ve let go that once meant the world to you?

7, World - Where would you most like to live? (And why aren't you living there already?)

8, Education - What career advice would you give to your 16-year-old self?