Parentals

3. Describe your relationship with your parents.
(I know I have skipped days, but blogging every single day is hard! Not a chance I'm going to do this in just 30 days, If I get done with these questions by the end of May I'll be quite satisfied!)
Ahhhh, my mom and dad :) We've had highs, we've had lows, as I think any parent-child relationship has! Lets start with mi padre!

I feel I am quite a lot like my father, which is probably why we butted heads so much when I was a teenager. Because when you put two outspoken & stubborn people together, there is going to be friction lol. And really, I was a pain in the butt, I fully understand that. But I was right, the majority of the time ;-) Although, he may have known better about the boyfriends I brought home when he would give them the stink eye the whole time they were over! It was pretty funny to see the guys squirm :) But I also had great times with him as kids & teen. He was the one who when we were on vacation would always take us out exploring. And the one that when we would go up to Lake Superior would come out hiking and climbing on all the rocks with me because no one else would. Even if we did fall down a giant hill that had flat rocks all over it (not our best idea to date). He would sit down and help with math homework, and help us to practice whichever sport it was we were playing at the time so we could do our best. He made sure life as a kid was genuinely fun. And I absolutely love what our father-daughter relationship has grown into. He is an excellent grandfather to my kids (the silly grandpa monster as the kids call him), and is wonderful to sit out on the deck and just talk to. I'm glad I had my kids so young, so that they can experience all the fun that grandpa has to share!

My mom & I have had a pretty usual mother-daughter relationship I feel. Well, what I think should be normal and what I hope to have with Brooklyn one day. Minus the teen years. Have I already mentioned I was a sucky teenager at home? Because I was. We had some good fights, some good door slamming, I don't want to live here, I can't wait to be 18, etc, etc fights. But boy am I thankful I'm past that! Because my mom is a person I can talk to about absolutely anything. She doesn't judge what me or my siblings choose to do, but she helps us to move along the best possible path. My favorite memories are our shopping trips we have taken, because even if I get nothing, we have a blast. Especially Day After Thanksgiving. An entire day spent with my mom and sister where we talk, laugh, go out to eat, gossip, and complain. If we go a few days without talking it feels just weird! And she has a huge heart. She loves her kids and grandbabbies more than anything (although I'm quite positive the grandbabbies have outranked us ever since Josephine was born; but I understand, they're cuter). She has taught me to love people, even for their flaws. She has tried to teach me how to be "lady-like", but unfortunately most of that never sunk in lol. She is the queen of etiquette, so I know how to be proper when it is absolutely required (I have a feeling this will be quite useful with John's career in the military!). Mostly she has taught me what being a mom truly should be like. And not to belch in public.

I thank God every day for the parents He gave me, because they gave me the best upbringing I could imagine; even if I didn't deserve it all the time.