mom & dad

I just got back from visiting the parental units. They were in their usual positions - mom standing over the sink washing dinner dishes and dad in his workshop or "koya" as we like to call it. Mom has a bad cold. Dad's hair is getting super long and crazy. It's full of sawdust as he planes down one of the legs that will hold up the Japanese rice paper lamp he is working on. My parents are just getting cooler with age, really. I realize that I like them more now. I can have conversations with them about every day life. My dad listens attentively and laughs at all my jokes. My mom tries to show as much interest as possible in me while feeling miserable and coughing. I guess I just feel grateful right now to have those two in my life. Don't get me wrong, they are not perfect parents/people. But they're so damn cute. They're older and need a bit more looking after and can't deal with certain things they probably should be able to deal with but they are still my touchstones. I guess I'm proud of them. Despite all the hysterics of my childhood, and the fact that they don't have any idea how to use the fax machine, or the vcr and wouldn't know the first thing about a computer, I'm proud of them. Huh...life's funny.