I guess I will have to order some flowers to be delivered to my snowbird mom for Mother’s Day. She is not expected home for almost another month. People have begun to ask me, “Are your folks back yet?” or “When will your folks be back?”
I sigh and sadly reply, “Not until June.”
It is really selfish of me to wish them home. They enjoy their time in the sunny Arizona climate and they enjoy visiting relatives—a cousin in New Mexico, an aunt in Kansas—as they meander home.
Then they stop and spend a week or two with my sister Rhodelle—“Delle” and her family in Missouri. They enjoy taking part in the JR Allman Ranch operations for a while. Delle and her husband, J.R., and son, Jacob raise chickens— thousands of chickens—and cows. It’s hard work, so they try to take some time off and have fun while my mom and dad are there.
So I shouldn’t begrudge my “little” sister having some time with my folks. I do get to see them for most of the year.
Also, with the dreary, cold spring we’ve been having, I should be happy that they are at least in a sunnier clime for a little while. Despite growing up on the North Shore, my mom hates cold weather.
And, finally even more selfishly, I don’t appreciate them when they are home. When my parents are thousands of miles away, I am much better about staying in touch. I call them up on the cell phone. I e-mail or answer e-mails more frequently. When they are traveling, I ask them to check in when they stop each night. If they don’t check in, I call them to find out if they are safe and sound.
But when they are back home in their own house, safe and sound, I don’t feel like I have to check in every day. A day or two or even three may go by between visits or phone calls. A wave as I hurry off to work seems sufficient. So I really shouldn’t whine that I want them home.
Instead, I should tell them that I do appreciate them, whether they are miles away or just down the road. Because I do appreciate them. When I juggle my schedule to include family time—as I should—I realize how lucky I am that they are my parents. They are the strongest, funniest, most caring people I know.
Even if they do spend half the year gallivanting around the country without me!
To bring up a child in the way he should go—travel that way yourself.
Josh Billings
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