I’m sitting in a booth at a Mongolian Barbecue restaurant in a retirement-community-adjacent mall in Ft. Myers, Florida.
This is the only restaurant still open at this late hour (9pm), and the air conditioning is refreshing, wisking away the exhaustion I feel from the heat of the day.
Across the table my sister is slowly sipping on a glass of ice water, her mouth slightly smiling and her eyes tolerant. I know my face is the same, due mostly to the flurry of activity in the seats next to us.
Glancing to the right, I see my parents playing with their chopsticks; first picking up a packet of sugar, then a napkin, then the sleeve of my shirt. My sister is being similarly attacked. Our positions are being overrun.
It seems that every time I see my parents they are a little bit more childlike. I like to say that they’re slowly going insane because as the (four) children have left home for college and then real life, they’ve been left with little companionship except for each other, a dog and a turtle, and they’re both a little nutty to begin with (plus, I’m not certain the dog doesn’t encourage them).
It’s strange and wonderful and none of my friends meet my family without soon after adding them as connections on Facebook and promising to visit them in the near-future in Missouri.
It’s just the kind of people they are, and it’s something I never appreciated until I left home.
They seem so carefree! So childlike!
And you know what? I’ve been the same lately, and they are a big part of that.
To see two people who have a whole lot more to lose – a whole lot more responsibility and baggage and scars – let loose and go a little crazy is liberating. It reminds me that no matter what, no matter how many years I live or how many concerns I have or how many kids I have to put through college, life shouldn’t be taken so seriously.
Your life should include late-night skinny dipping in public fountains, Twister-parties and picking at your children with chopsticks. If it doesn’t, you aren’t really living.
Late night skinny dipping in public – done.
My parents (who only have two kids left in their once-four nest) have been showing signs of relaxing and not stressing the small stuff when it comes to raising my siblings and living their daily lives. They are also making it a priority to spend lots of alone time together to keep their marriage strong and alive! I’ve been blessed.
I want to meet your parents! They sound wonderful!
I’m sure your parents reached the point where they realized there’s no reason not to let go and live to the fullest. Good for them!
They’re awesome, and I’m sure they’d love to meet you too!
My mother is actually on Twitter at @mollywrites and she has a blog up at mollywright.com, if you want to get in touch with her and see her wonderful writing!
Well..let me just clarify a few minutae….first, I was not using chop sticks for such dubious things. I was using them to play the drums, thank you very much. LOL I also am on Twitter. Facebook and Linkedin…I am a techie you know? Well, maybe not everyone knew but they do now. Anyway…please make reservations to viisit us in advance. We might be out dipping in the fountain.
Anyway…thanks for the nice write-up sonny! As you get older you do realize that there is more to life and you have to have fun, especially in the times in which we live. You truly are as young as you feel. But next time, use a picture of your mother. 😀
That sounds great. It’s important to take a step back and realize how we good have it, sometimes!
You must have caught a good day in Fort Myers, because it’s absolutely frigid here over the last 2 months (for Florida, anyway).
Anyway, I see this with my parents, and my in-laws especially, who are local and spend more time with us. The effect is amplified when you have kids and they get to interact with each other. 🙂
Oh man, I imagine. As soon as you don’t have to worry about the same social pressures anymore….let’s just say I’m pretty sure I will build even more forts out of couch cushions than I already do (and I do this with not insignificant frequency) when I’m that age.
Not sure I want to hear about your parents late night skinny dipping in public fountains, but I do have to say their unabashedly carefree perspective of the world is inspiring. People like that are so much fun to be around because of the escape from the rules and responsibilities of the real world they provide. It isn’t until you realize how much more their lives are actually affected by these rules and responsibilities than yours is that it hits you just how amazing they are for that perspective.
Bravo to the rents! I’m totally visiting them in MO. 🙂
I know! They’ve got so many chains of responsibility hanging on them, yet they still manage to dance in public and crack jokes as if everything’s okay and always has been. Pretty damn impressive, I say.
I’m sure they’d love to see you if you want to stop by, too!
Along the lines of what Kyle wrote, I recall reading once that “maturity is knowing when to be immature.” I’m totally onboard with that sentiment.
Well said.
Well said!
I think in general as people get older, they get less serious; it’s paradoxically a sign of maturity. Life is much easier when it’s not taken seriously.
I think you’re right. And I think that’s something that we should all look forward to (and try to achieve sooner)!
Well, I’m not so sure I’d call my parent’s “child like” in a good way. When my dad comes for a visit I have to jump out of bed the second he does to stop him from causing trouble (like possibly burning down the house because he decides he wants to mess with the woodstove) or just to keep him from snooping! Ha ha!
Oh those crazy tykes…I mean middle-aged people…sometimes all you can do is turn on a Disney movie and pray their sugar high drops them off into a peaceful sleep.
I agree that the ability to loosen up and enjoy life is truly freeing. I guess that the longer you live the more you realize that you can’t control everything, so you might as well let loose and enjoy it!
Exactly!
What’s unfortunate is that many people play it very safe and either reach this stage very late in life, or never at all. Take risks and then you have permission to be crazy…seems like a pretty good deal to me.