So I'm a LITTLE behind...
For the record, I HATE HATE HATE when people say "the 'Rents", it drives me absofuckinglutely insane. INSANE. The 90s just called, they said it's time to let-the-fuck go!
My mom and dad were high school sweethearts who have, to date, been married 32 years.
My mom is the second child of 4, who grew up what we Michigan people call "up north." When she was a teenager her family moved to the town where I was born. My dad is the youngest of 3 boys and grew up one town over from where my parents live now.
Like I said, they met in high school. There are tons of pictures of them from that time, along with my uncles and aunts. My dad's olive green Dodge Challenger features highly, and the hair and clothes are oh-so-seventies. The pictures from that time always take me aback a little. They were so YOUNG. My mom looks very delicate of face. I know that sounds weird, but it's true. It was the face of a woman who's never worried about kids, and it's not something I'm used to seeing in my mom.
There really was much 70s hair and clothes. It bears repeating. There's a fantastically hilarious picture of my dad and his two older brothers where they look like Three Dog Night.
After graduation, they got married. My mom got pregnant with me a year later, and my brother three years after that. Sometime during all that she finished college, working part-time jobs while getting a BS from U of M Dearborn.
My dad started working right after high school. He got a job in a warehouse, courtesy of his oldest brother. My uncle tells me his boss frequently asked him "what's up with that brother of yours? I hired him for YOU, you know." Ha! He straightened up pretty quickly after I was born I guess, and after the warehouse laid everyone off, he got a job working at the airport and has been there ever since. It's hard work, he's had a lot of problems with his back, and he's almost always tired when I see him. I respect the hell out of my dad for all the hard work he's done for his family.
After my mom graduated college she started entry level work at a publishing company. Before she left that company more than 20 years later, she had earned her MBA and made executive VP. She now works at the same University I do. It's less money than she was making before, but she could read the writing on the wall, and didn't like where her old company was headed. She still has lots of friends from there, though. I also respect the hell out of my mom. Even though work took a lot of her time, she worked her way from the ground up, and she's one of the most intelligent women I know.
We had our differences growing up, especially my mom - my aunt (her oldest sister) watched my brother and I after school because both my parents worked, and looking back now I think my mom felt bad about that, about missing out on things. And when my mom feels guilty or bad, she generally shows it by being bitchy :) I took that really personally as a kid and especially as a teenager. But all in all, my parents were excellent. They didn't forbid too much or allow too much, and they were firm in expecting my brother and I to be the best people that we could.
The very least that can be said about them is that they raised two, mostly-not-screwed-up employed college graduates, and neither of us has ever been arrested. That ought to count for something in America, right?
My mom still wants to give me rides to and from work, and take me to lunch. My dad still gets offended when I want to pay for anything, and makes it a point to look after my car. I guess I could have just summed this whole thing up by saying that I love my parents, and they love me :)
Ugh I've been nauseated, coughing, and headachy since Friday, and having random chest pains and heart palpitations, what the fuck is up with THAT, life? Boo to feeling sick. I sucked it up and dragged my ass into work this morning because I'm incredibly behind and blah. Stress.
On the positive side, I got a new phone! It's a Samsung Intercept. It's a Droid touch screen with a slide out keyboard and it's piiiiiink. I insist on my mobile devices having fun colours.