Things, Part 8: Things I've learned from my parents and why they've actually been pretty decent. :P

I don't feel like teenagers give their parents enough credit. And I can't speak for all of us, as a group... wait, is 18 still a teenager? I don't know. I said something jokingly about picking out the shirt I was wearing from the grown-ups section and my mother gently told me that I am a grown-up now. WTF?????(!!?)

Anyway, looking back, I realize my parents did a lot of stuff for me that I never really appreciated until now and they taught me a lot that I never really noticed until I looked at it. um... that was grammatically awkward; moving on...

1. My mother played us classical music before we were born. Like to her belly. That sounds weird, but I've read a lot about "the Mozart effect" or whatever, and seeing as my sisters have like genius levels of IQ and I actually am literate in music, I think it might have been effective.

2. She played games with us when we were little. Like, to make us eat our veggies, we pretended that we had a castle in our stomach and we had to eat a variety of food to give it color. It worked.

3. My dad shared his music with us as kids. I never appreciated it until I thought about all the music and movies and stuff I want to share with my kids. It must have been really cool for him to see us loving the stuff he loved too.

4. He used to sit us all down and read us books, like Pony Pals, and then Harry Potter. Almost every night, it was like our treat at the end of the day, just hearing him read to us.

5. My parent never let me dye my hair weird colors. I used to be pissed at them about it, but now I realize, what I wanted to do would have actually looked really, really stupid.

6. My mother always told me when I needed to wash my hair before I went out in middle school. It used to drive me insane but I'm glad she prevented me from looking like a diseased hobo.

7. She also gave me all of her old stuff from the 70's and 80's that she doesn't wear but doesn't want to throw out. That's pretty cool. The whole generational full circle thingy. I hope my kids are gonna ask me for my lame clothes from the 00's and 10's. (what are we gonna call those decades?)

8. My dad taught me how to use computers from a young age. I used to steal all the balls out of the mice, and he wouldn't get mad at me for it. that was pretty cool, cause I frickin' loved those things and I didn't get why he couldn't just stick his finger in there and use the mouse that way. Anyway, I think the early exposure to technology is pretty key to adjusting to it. Even though I'm techno-illiterate, my sisters are literally now into rocket science.

9. My mother made me stay in Girl Scouts. I hated it, but it's actually given me some useful connections. Without doing my Gold Award, I wouldn't have met anyone at the museum I intern at and probably wouldn't have gotten that internship. Also, I wouldn't have gotten noticed by Oceana, and would have gotten all those other awards, and might have had a harder time applying to college.

10. I'm glad that they fought with each other and handled it. They almost got divorced several times. But I'm touched; the reason they both stay together, they tell me in confidence, is so that there's a stable household for me and my sisters.

11. My dad always says that women who have good relationships with men have had good relationships with their fathers. so he works hard to always be there.

12. My dad just works hard. Yeah, he's a hypochondriac and complains all the time, but he really works his butt off so we have money to do marching band and horseback riding and get iPods for our birthdays. Me and my sister, just this year, we've probably spent... 3400 dollars on marching band and drum line. That's a lot.

13. They always said to me, wherever you are, if you call, we'll come get you. I admire that.

14. They also always said, we don't care what kind of shit you do and what illegal substances you try, as long as you do them at home. Being a teenager(?), I don't like that, but I admire it. They're trying to let me have some freedom while trying to keep me safe.

See at this age, I see what they're trying to do, and I appreciate it. But it's tough to tell them. Telling them I've appreciated what they've done makes me leaving a conclusive thing. I don't want to hurt them because we're actually pretty close as a family. I don't want their marriage to start falling apart after one of the peacemakers goes. My dad will be heartbroken to lose his little girl. He gets really unreasonable and lovey-dovey and stuff a lot. I'm actually getting kind of bitchy and trying to not be around more so they'll miss me less when I'm gone. Perhaps it's not the best strategy.

But anyway.
I'll admit it. They've been pretty decent. Can't complain. :P