i had lunch with my mom today. she lives about a 6 minute drive from my work. when i arrived she commented that i looked taller, and i told her that she looked shorter. since we were both in sock feet that seemed very strange. so we stood side by side in the mirror and i was a good 2 inches taller than her. my mom and i have always been the same height. as she said, we've always been at eye level. how very strange. i think she's getting shorter. there's absolutely no reason why i'd be taller - people don't get taller when they're full grown. it stands to reason that she's just getting shorter with age. it's still a little odd that she'd drop by 2 inches at 66. if she keeps this up she'll be a whole foot shorter in the next decade.
i was 16 when i started living alone with my mom. joy moved out for a year in university, then came back for a year before she got married when i was 18. since my late teens my mom and i lived as housemates rather than kid and parent. this has created a dynamic of equals, and in recent years me teaching my mom a lot of things. i've often attributed this with my lack of fear of authority figures. anyways, we sat and chatted over lunch, with me giving her feedback and advise. and at the end she told me i was very wise and that she appreciated me. i think sometimes i take our relationship for granted and want to be the kid and her the all-knowing parent. but i suppose we can't both be equals AND parent+child. i'll just adjust my expectations and be gentle with her when she doesn't know all the answers... or even all the problems.
i was 16 when i started living alone with my mom. joy moved out for a year in university, then came back for a year before she got married when i was 18. since my late teens my mom and i lived as housemates rather than kid and parent. this has created a dynamic of equals, and in recent years me teaching my mom a lot of things. i've often attributed this with my lack of fear of authority figures. anyways, we sat and chatted over lunch, with me giving her feedback and advise. and at the end she told me i was very wise and that she appreciated me. i think sometimes i take our relationship for granted and want to be the kid and her the all-knowing parent. but i suppose we can't both be equals AND parent+child. i'll just adjust my expectations and be gentle with her when she doesn't know all the answers... or even all the problems.
we see the exact same sunrise.
1 comment:
we do shrink as we age.. bones shrink and the layers between them compact, too. apparently Clint Eastwood is 3 inches shorter than he was in his prime.
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