My Parent’s Visit

I have had my parents with me for three weeks. We did so many things together and it has been absolutely wonderful. We went to Mackinaw, to Chicago, for walks, shopping, hosting BBQ, Art Fairing, etc, etc, etc. I’ve been a wreck for the last couple of days because I don’t want this good time to end.

Since it has been such an important even for me, it feels strange not to make a record of it. But I actually don’t know what to write.

Before they got here I was nervous for a couple of reasons.
1) I’m so used to living by myself. Having to share my apartment and accommodating somebody else’s rhythm of life might be too stressful.
2) I haven’t gotten along very well with my dad in the past. It’s not that he’s mean or anything, but I get super irritated by him sometimes.

It turned out my parents were very accommodating to my life style and I didn’t feel any stress there. It was great. My mom is a domestic goddess and she cooked, cleaned, washed, and straightened things out like nobody’s business. When I come back from work, there are nutritious dinner and flowers from farmers market on the table waiting for me. Amazing.

At the beginning I did have some trouble behaving myself towards my dad but it got better after a while. I know some people were praying for me about that and I could feel it. It’s all about accepting him as he is and not expecting him to change. Easier said than done, but I started seeing a charming side of him I’ve never taken time to find before.

I wanted to spend more time with them. I wanted to show them how much I love them. I’m very sad because I don’t know how much more time I have with them. They are old. It has been my deepest fear to lose my parents. Especially my mom. I’m afraid of losing someone who loves me unconditionally and takes care of me. She always brought an order in to the chaos of my life. I feel like nobody else would ever do that for me, however untrue or irrelevant that might be. I’ve never actually talked about it with my mom. She has entrusted me to God. I know she would want me to do the same.

Through all this I’m really challenged to give this fear up to God. Let Him be the one to take care of me and fill all my needs. I don’t know how other people deal with an issue like this, but at the age of almost 28, God is nudging me to become emotionally independent from my parents by depending fully on Him.