The Thing About My Folks

I love the way my mother clears her throat. It's been a constant source of comfort for me since I was little and even to this day when I hear it tension melts away from my shoulders. My mother's smell is also one of those things I will never forget and when she was in Oklahoma during Desert Storm (8 months, 3 days) I would spray her perfume on my pillow to calm my five-year-old self. I still love the fact that she's the first up in the morning, usually surrounded my papers and books, working endlessly on her classes. She is the most underappreciate, overworked, and hardworking woman I have ever met. Ever. My mother's work ethic would put anyone to shame. My mother is the third out of six and the most resilent out of everyone, following her older sister into the military in order to pay for her education in nursing. Her nickname at Girl Scout camp was Boots and she's now retired from the Army Reserves after serving 30 years. My mother taught me everything I know about raising a family and preparing the best batch of pancakes. She loves math and would always tell me "it's a game" but I unfortunately never caught on. On Mother's Day while in high school she tried to show me how to play golf and I hit her on her hairline with a golfclub on a back-swing, creating a small gash that bled more than anything I've ever seen. It is the hardest I've ever cried in my entire life. My mother loves the mountains and I think she wishes she still lived in Indiana. She is warm and caring and gives the best hugs. She also always makes sure the house is locked up and ovens off before we leave the house, even if it means driving back to check.


When my father laughs he turns bright red and I think he's going to die from lack of oxygen. It's rare to see him laugh that hard, but when he does you can't help but laugh with him. One of these occassions centered around me asking him to buy a 10lb bag on onions for a school fundraiser and the other was a Dirk Diggler comment that made him laugh so hard the whole family was shocked. He is one of the most determined men I know and has always had strong family values. He wanted to make sure he provided for his family and children in the way his own parents did not and I can say that he officially completed this feat at the age of 50 when he retired from the work force for good. He went to four different colleges and universities for various reasons and at one point only had his books to keep him company. I think this is why my dad isn't the "social butterfly" the three women in his life are, but he's gotten used to it. My father is also one of the most stubborn men I know, an issue that gets in the way of our conversations from time to time. My father is a builder and I would always help him on his projects, though most of the time I couldn't keep up with his engineering mind. He has a strong fondness for anything Christmas and anything Disney. He uses idioms more than a normal person should and at his funeral I will give the eulogy and say "At least it wasn't a poke in the eye with a sharp stick." My father intimidates most of my friends but, like my mother, gives the best hugs and always says "I love you" at the end of a phone conversation.


My parents met in high school. My father was the football manager and my mother in the marching band. Two nerds who met in honors classes became two married nerds who like to go to museums and historic stops along the highway. They have been married for other 30 years and when I asked them what that was like my father answered "comforting." My father is great with computers, something my mother has not caught up with. It is my father who constantly raves about my mother's work ethic and I know that without her he wouldn't be half the man he is today. They both built their first house in Indiana and now that my sister and I are out of the house are much happier and take more trips together. They have the oddest sleeping pattern I have ever seen-- my mother going to sleep at 11pm and waking up at 5am, my father going to sleep at 5am and waking up at 11am. My parents complete each other very well and have great dreams of being doting grandparents. It is impossible to spring something up on them and expect to get away with it-- they are people that deliberate, think, and deliberate some more when it comes to a big decision (like letting the youngest daughter live in Germany for four months). My parents are weird, crazy, and I couldn't ask for a better pair to watch over me.