On Seeing Our Parents As Human

I’m realizing that at some point, we all see our parents through a lens we never anticipated. I’ve wanted to write about this for awhile — you know, how we all have that moment where we stop seeing our parents as superheroes and realize they’re human just like us. That metaphorical cape is suddenly gone, and we now see that our parents are just trying to do the very best they can in this life.

I suppose a little backstory is in order: For the last few weeks, Ms. Bear hasn’t been feeling like her go-go-go, speedy self. She’s felt overly tired, and, as Janelle and I noticed, her classic spark has disappeared. As you all know, this is very unusual, as Ms. Bear typically has far more energy than Janelle and I combined. Yes, you read that right. A woman in her early 60s can outpace two (young?) women in their 30s. It’s OK — we’ve learned to just accept it.

But back to Ms. Bear’s concerning symptoms. A blood test revealed that her thyroid numbers were out of whack. She struggled with her thyroid when she was in her 20s, shortly before she got married, and has been on medication ever since. Her numbers had been controlled and were holding steady — well, until now, that is.

After a few calls to her doctor and a trip to the pharmacy, she now has the magic elixir in her hands — a higher dose of her medicine — and she took the first dose this morning.

Hopefully, we’ll start to see Ms. Bear back to her old self really soon! Janelle and I are doing our best to take excellent care of her. We’ve been using a lot of words like “calm down,” “slow down” and “be gentle with yourself” because, for some odd reason, she seems to forget that. A LOT. Those words flow out of my mom’s mouth so easy when giving other people pep talks, but she seems incapable of taking her own advice. Weird, huh?

This whole experience, though, it’s made me just want to take care of Ms. Bear, you know? I suppose we all have that moment when we realize that, yes, we’re still our parents children, but we’re no longer “kids,” if that makes sense. We’re adults now, and maybe the time has come for us to be our own superheroes. Maybe our parents really are just human, and I’m not saying that like it’s a bad thing. Maybe our first glimpse of our parents as human is the first step in forging a deeper, more meaningful connection. Maybe it’s an invitation to have new types of conversations — a real chance to get to know each other in this new light.

Maybe, most importantly, it’s the beginning of something, not the end of something else.

I’m going to (try!) to have one of those meaningful conversations with Ms. Bear tonight. Will you join me and chat with your parent or parental figure in your life?? I’d love to hear what you’re talking about, if you feel comfortable sharing in the comments! xoxo