I wish my parents were here (in Texas). Even though that would mean their daily average temperature would shoot up at least, oh, five degrees or so. (Sorry Ma & Pa!)
Daniel’s parents are great, and my friends are great, but little can compare to the soothing presence of my mom and dad. And, of course, for the humor they never seem to cease providing.
Case in point: Today, I talked to my mom at lunchtime … nothing particularly (publicly) notable there, except that we ended the conversation with the thought that my dad would probably be calling my brother later, and that I was curious to hear how that conversation went.
I taught a class at work today, so I had my phone set to vibrate, and my father called towards the end of the session. His voicemail was — at least to me — completely hilarious.
My dad’s NOT one of those people who hasn’t quite grasped the concept of the answering machine/voicemail system … quite the contrary, he’s very comfortable with the technology. Still, his voicemail was obviously left when he was somewhat distracted, and it was constructed very much like a one-way conversation would have been. He said hello, asked how I was doing, told me a brief anecdote, then made apologies for having to cut it short by offering up this excuse: “Well, I’ve got to go see a man about a door. I’ll talk to you soon.”
It could be the stress, or the fact that I’ve felt pretty out of it all day, or just generally the sullenness that comes when you have to sit at your desk for an entire eight-hour day when you’ve had several — SEVERAL — days out of the office, but those words completely cracked me up and I walked back to my office laughing out loud to myself.
I know that’s disproportionate, but I still found it delightful.
My parents are wonderful like that. It’s not that I’m laughing *AT* them — nay, nay, au contraire. It’s that I so love and adore who they are that whenever I get a glimpse into their quirks from afar, I cannot help but feel overwhelmed by how much I miss them and wish they were here.
My family is built on a strong admiration for sarcasm and wit. I guess my parents never noticed the extreme extent to which we all go to poke fun at one another, until about a year ago I pointed out that we can be downright mean to one another… but, that we always do so in a “loving and supportive” way (namely, sarcastic). People with low self esteem don’t do well when surrounded by Norells. But my point is, we laugh at one another and we do it often. We work *really* hard to entertain one another. We’re just stubborn like that.
(Though, I refuse — unlike my brother — to make distinctions about which among us is the most stubborn. That just seems unwise.)
But back to my parents.
They park their car under a shade tree and watch bulldozers shifting dirt around at the first-ever Mountain Home Lowe’s building site.
They are rushed to keep appointments seeing men about doors.
They’re awesome.
And I miss them SO MUCH.
PS: An afterthought.
I should clarify: I mean “I wish my parents were here” in the “I wish they’d come visit” manner, and not the “I wish they lived here” manner.
Not that I’d stop them from moving here. They’d just never leave the house from April-October. 😉
