...of my parents

My son had a doctor’s appointment yesterday that required a 45-minute drive. There was a possibility that he may have had to get X-rays done, which meant that my other two children could not go with us. Because I mixed up the days, the sitter I had set up could not keep the girls. I figured, “Oh well, they will have to go and maybe one of the nurses could go with my son into the X-ray while I stayed with the girls in the waiting room.

Monday night, my mother called and asked if I’d obtained a sitter for the girls, (I’d mentioned this in an earlier conversation with her). I told her no and that they were just going to have to go and if "Second-born" did need the X-ray then hopefully a nurse would be available to go with him. My mother then confirms the time and says, “Well if I be up that way I’ll keep them." I’d been asleep when she called so I heard her, but what she said didn’t really register.

The kids and I arrived at the doctor’s office ½ hour early so we just waited in the truck for a while. My cell phone rings, it’s my dad, he wants to know what street the office is on because he and my mother were “in the area!” People, we live in North Carolina and my parents live in Virginia! It had been a two-hour drive for them! They’d come just to sit with the girls just in case my baby boy needed the X-ray! WOW, talk about dedication. No X-ray for him, (thank You, Father), my parents took the older two shopping for school and we ended our day together with lunch.

Mommy and Daddy, (my parents), are awesome. Of course, it has only been a few years since I first acknowledged this truth. As a child still living at home and even through my early adult years, I mocked the sacrifices made by mommy & daddy. What I mean is that instead of recognizing that all the “extras” they did for my siblings and I were not required, but an expression of unconditional love, I expected it. In my immature and selfish thinking, they were doing just what they were supposed to do as parents.

Of course, I’ve apologized to my parents, especially my mother, since the birth of our children. Parents are, by man’s law, only required to provide their offspring with food, clothing, & shelter; anything else is a luxury. Once those children are adults, parents are no longer compelled to that commitment. However, they continue to actively love their ungrateful progeny. Why oh why at the age of 31, am I still in learning?

Thank you, Mommy & Daddy.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12 NIV

"Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children." Proverbs 17:6 NIV