Leaving California

August 25, 2007

It's always difficult to come home after vacation. But not because I know that I'll be faced with the routine of going back to work. It's because of who I'm leaving behind. I suppose it happens to everyone who has elderly parents and lives in another state, another country, another continent. 

And this time around, it was more evident that my parents had crossed the line that divides old from elderly. 

Dad always cut a dashing figure. Handsome, tall, dark hair, skin browned by the sun and so many years of working outdoors. When I think about Dad, that's the photograph in my mind. Now his hair is gray and thinning (but at 74 he still has most of it). He's not as tall as I remember him and he walks with a limp that makes him look even shorter. He is still the most handsome man I know. Is that looking at him through adoring-daughter's eyes? You bet! What kind of daughter would I be if I didn't think so?

And Mom. After my teen-aged battles and young adult scrimmages, I've come to see the error of my ways and come to love my mother with the same intensity that I "hated" her at 16 (dumb child that I was). She is a truly good person. I've not personally known a person that shines the love of Christ through everything she says and everything she does. It is even more amazing because her personal cross is heavy. The daily pain she must endure makes her understand and want to lessen the pain of others. But when I look at her and see how her illness has aged in the the two year interval between my visits, I have come to realize that Our Lord will call her home sooner or later. Dear Lord your will be done, but my selfishness wants it to be later.

I love you Mom and Dad.