my parents.

my dad has had some good days lately.  and he has had some really bad ones.

my mom has taken a leave from work until may.  she wants to finish out the year, but just may not be able. her boss called and told her that he would "lay her off" until may that way she could still get paid.  i thought that was an incredible act of kindness. and it made me proud of my mother.  proud that she is a hard worker and that her work has not went unnoticed and now she has found favor.

my mom is out going.  she is a talker.  she likes to go, go, go.  she always is doing and going.  and with my daddy becoming more and more dependent, it has stopped her dead in her tracks.  suddenly she has went from all to nothing.  she has been made to stay at home.

and she is happy.  she is making the best of it.  even though she would love to still be working and my dad to still not need her constantly; she is happy to be by his side and love him back to health.  and love him because that is what she promised him so long ago.  long before my brother and i were ever thought of.

she promised to love him, three months after he first saw her at the roller rink with two cigarettes hanging out of her mouth. months after he told her he would not marry her if she kept smoking so she stopped.  she promised to love him no matter what. and she has.  and he has.

and now the "through thick or thin" is here.  and she is standing the test.  she is passing with flying colors.     because she promised.  because she wants to.  because thats what love is.

it makes you think about love.  and loving forever.  the better or worse.  the forever part.

because you never know when your life will change.

i have learned a lot from my parents.  everything really.  they formed me into who i am today.  and even though i moved out of their care when i was eighteen, i have never stopped learning from them.

and as such a time as this, i am learning more now by observing than they ever purposely taught me.

and i couldn't have better teachers.

p.s.  today my dad got a hair cut.  when i called to check in, mom sounded busy and occupied and when i asked her what was going on, she said, "oh, sam suitor is here giving your daddy a haircut."  i don't know why but that make me tear up and smile. tear up because it was just sweet.  and smile because just thinking about a little country barber making a house call to my daddy to cut his ever thinning hair...some things don't get any better than that.  and i don't know about you, but when i get my hair did, it makes my day.  and i want to think that my dad's day was made too, because someone went out of their way to make my daddy's day better.