These are my parents, Steve and Wendee.
My mom is my rock. She is the woman that I hope I grow up to be. She's the most giving, selfless woman I've ever met. I can't imagine living in a world without her, and I hate thinking that someday I'll probably have to.
She knows the answer to everything and has told me since I was a child that it's all in the "Mommy Handbook" that will someday be passed down to me as well. She used to tell my sister and I stories about a fictional character named Harold-Zach (we kept fighting over the name) and his sister Julie. Strangely, the stories about him usually mirrored conflicts that my sister and I had experienced throughout the day, and they always came out with a moral.
When it was a hot spring day and my mom would pick us up from school, we would beg her to take us to Lickety Split, a local ice cream parlor. She would usually protest with "No we have errands to run," or a simple "Not today," but sometimes she would over-dramatically pretend to be fighting off the car's ability to auto-pilot itself to the ice cream shop. "I couldn't stop the car from pulling in the parking lot, so we might as well get some ice cream," she would say breathlessly as if she put all of her effort into fighting our Volvo station wagon's will to get ice cream.
Every year on my birthday she would wake me up by quietly singing the Happy Birthday song in my ear, and she went through great lengths to come up with creative and fun birthday parties. Whether it was inside out and backwards (everyone dressed accordingly, we ate cake before lunch, and we had to walk backwards into the house) or Lamb Chop (we made lamb puppets out of socks), I always felt as if everyone must be jealous of my mom's excellent ability to throw a party.
As I've gotten older, my relationship with my mom has changed, of course. She's still the woman I look up to the most, but I have a more casual and honest relationship with her. While I know she'll always do everything she can for me, I know that my demands are probably more complicated than ice cream after school. I can't wait for her to be a grandmother so I can re-watch her parenting skills all over again.
My dad is the most dependable person I know. He has always put his family first, and I know he would sacrifice anything for us. He is free with his money when it comes to family, and is extremely generous with any charity that reaches out to him. He believes in karma, but he's often cynical. When he believes something, he believes it with his whole heart, and I really respect that.
It's because of my father that I love Vietnamese food. We used to go to Mekong almost every weekend for years. Daddy/daughter dates were always important when I was growing up. Since I don't have any brothers, my dad thought it was important to show us how we should be treated on dates. He would put on a tie and blazer and open the door for me. Since he was out of town on business a lot of the time, those were some of my favorite times with him.
I remember when he bought a basketball hoop for our house. We would play HORSE after dinner for hours.
My parents have truly made me into the person I am. I'm thankful for their sacrifices, their struggles, and their efforts that they have put forth for me. I hope that I can someday show my children as much love as they have shown me.
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