Have You Thanked Your Parents Today?

My dad called yesterday. The man can talk for hours (and I do mean hours) out and about. He can turn a trip to the bank into a three hour excursion. Two minutes of banking and two hours and fifty-eight minutes of socializing. But when it comes to the phone...at least with me...it's "less is more." He knows I normally call to chat with Mom, so if he answers, the conversation is something like this: "Hello? Hi, hang-on-I'll-get-her." Bless his heart.

If he does call to talk to me, it probably means I'm late for an oil change. (Which reminds me....better look into that!) Or...he wants to know what time my lunch hour is tomorrow so he can make connections with me to drop off a sack of stuff from Mom. Or...he ran into so-and-so at the bank and they said to tell me hi. That sort of thing.

Last night he called, and I was (shock of ALL shocks) on the phone with the internet troubleshooting department, so I couldn't take his call. Once I was up and running...again...I called him back. He said he just wanted to tell me he really liked "Bits" on Sunday.

I about dropped the phone.

It's not that he dislikes them any other week. It's just that he's normally neutral about the writing. To have a special long-distance phone call just to tell me he liked what I wrote was the highlight of my day. It reminded me of the Sunday when I stood in the bathroom straightening my hair before church, listening to Dad on the radio, and I heard him begin to read aloud some words that sounded very familiar. Then I knew...they were my words! He'd never read my stuff on the air before. I ran around the bedroom squeaking quite unceremoniously, scaring the cats. But to hear my own words through the radio waves...from my own Dad...that was exhilarating.

Affirmation is good.

And because I had so recently experienced that joy, I turned it back around to him (to both my parents) today. I can't go into the specifics, but I had an encounter today that made me so thankful my parents had never been "those parents." Sure they loved me. Sure they went to bat for me. (Shoot, Mom's still going to bat for me at 31!) But they knew how to say no. They knew where to draw the line and even though I thought some of their decisions were mercilessly unfair, they stood firm. And now, looking back, I'd probably have done the same thing they did. And I told them so...when I called to thank them. I probably owe them something far greater than a "thank you." But I thought it just might make their day.