There is this series of documentaries that I highly reccomend - the Up Series. Filmaker Michale Apted has been taping a collection of children as they grown into adults from the time that they were 7 years old (7 up) until present day when they are 49 (49 up.) A new chapter in the series appears every 7 years - 7, 14, 21, 28, 35, 42, 49. Each child has a different story, a different background, situation, personality. However, from 21 - 42 almost every one of them struggles. It is a fragile age - walking the line between being a child who always has a family to fall back on to becoming a an adult who has to take care of the family - children and aging parents. When a parent dies, a child faces the reality of being on their own - a time which is almost universally crushing for the individual. There is always the person who never felt any connection to a parental figure of any type, but it certainly isn't the norm.
As I enter my early thirties, I feel it upon me so clearly. How can I ever survive without my parents??? My mother is my best friend and the one person in the world who cares as much as about what is going on in my life. We all have husbands, wives, family and friends that fill in the gaps - but no one is mom & dad. So, today I am grateful to have them. I know they won't be around forever and I don't find it morbid to try and imagine my life without them. Those days will come - and there won't be any going back. The blessing is that it makes me more aware of the days I have, that I can pick up the phone, call my dad, and he will answer. It is WONDERFUL!! I am so grateful to know he is alive at this moment, thinking something, eating something, doing something. Appreciate the now - it is the only thing that matters.
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