Friday, September 17, 2010

Today...

...is my parents' 33rd anniversary. To celebrate they are in Peru hiking the Inca Trail, wearing baby alpaca knit caps, and feasting on Guinea pig. And I will say this, in honor of my parents and all parents out there:

You can never truly understand how much your parents love you until you have a child of your own.




(Here they are hanging with their first grandbaby in Yosemite.)

My appreciation for the job of parenthood (quite obviously) has grown one thousand fold over the last six months. Sometimes I can almost feel my heart breaking for my parents when I think about what it must have been like raising my brother and I. Not that we were bad. We were probably average in terms of bad vs. goodness, but just the sheer emotion that goes into practically everything you do for your children must have been exhausting, exhilarating, and at times heart-wrenching. Every time we fought or bumped our heads or went off to camp or even to a friend's house for the night, I'm sure a little piece of their hearts went with us.

And I sort of understood that in an intellectual way, but not in the entirely raw way I understand it now. It's just a different kind of love, that I wouldn't trade for anything in whole wide universe.

This weekend I will be recovering from a cold, which I caught from my baby. Thank you baby. I will take anything you want to give me.

13 comments:

Joslyn said...

ok first let me say your parents rock! what a killer way to spend their anniversary...no wonder you're so cool ;-)

and this:

You can never truly understand how much your parents love you until you have a child of your own.

yes. for sure!

Jackie {thelovelywifelife.blogspot.com} said...

My parents just celebrated their 31st wedding anniversary on Wednesday... and I had a post about it too on my blog -- thelovelywifelife.blogspot.com. It is pretty amazing to have parents that want to spend time together after that many years. Our parents rock.

Unknown said...

aww. i so love reading about your experiences as a new mom. also, your parents are beautiful.

Char said...

though i am childless, i'm close enough to my sister and her boys (my nephews) to understand what you are talking about. back at christmas when the boys broke my sister's heart by wanting to spend christmas with their father, i cried all night thinking of all the times i broke my mother's heart and how each time she forgave me and still loved me.

Olivia said...

I get the chills whenever I read about people celebrating long marriages, it's one of the most beautiful things in the world to me.

And seriously, awesome anniversary trip for them!

jamie said...

oh how much do i love them.

so much.

Desi McKinnon said...

Happy Anniversary to your parents. How wonderful.

They look so great. I'm sure it's the inside reflecting out. Plus check out those guns on your mom ;)

mary said...

I once heard that parenting is like ripping your heart out of your chest and watching it walk around. I'm not a parent yet, but can begin to understand -- loved this tribute to your parents! Also the incredible blessing of 32 years of marriage -- my parents just celebrated 31 years!

Ashleigh said...

I love every word of this post and so understand what you mean. Our babe arrives in November and already I have been thinking so much about my parents, how they raised my brother and me, and how little I understood before.

Anonymous said...

what lovely words about parenthood! i totally agree that you can only really understand what it is like once you experience it. happy anniversary to your parents! they must be the coolest i've ever heard of!

Heidi said...

Happy anniversary to your fantastic parents. Mine just hit 38 years! And about parenting, raw emotion hits it on the mail. When I think about either of mine doing any of the stuff I did . . . , and I was relatively tame. The future is very scary.

kathleen // scout + lilly said...

lovely! ...also, you look *exactly* like your mother. no lie.

Holly said...

in peru hiking? seriously? you win for coolest parents!

congrats to them.