My daughter's eyes...

I remember the first time I came home after being away from my childhood home for more than a year... off on my life's journey to see and absorb the world on my own.

I came home to dutifully visit my parents that I had viewed as old fashioned, stodgy and out of touch with the modern world… these same parents I had often criticized

in my thoughts for their conservative views and the puritan ways. They worked so hard to embed their values in my character even though I rejected it all…

Upon my return, however, was it possible that I perceived changes in their faces

and their settling lives that I hadn't seen before?

They were getting older.

What a quaint and odd revelation that that they were not always going to be there?

Was it possible that my parents were suddenly mortal and they were not invincible? Were they more frail, it seemed, than the last time I'd seen them?

Was it now that I was seeing them in a whole new light?

By further examination was it possible...that...

My mother had a slight stoop and her hair was getting thinner and greyer than I remembered. She said she was beginning to forget things… she never forgot things...

My father's ears were getting bigger and his walk was a little less steady?

The TV and the radio volume were VERY LOUD.

Was it possible that he didn't remember that he had told me his stories at least a hundred times when I was growing up? My wife tells me that I do that too... you know...

They were still the same parents that gave me advice whether I wanted it or not.

They were the same parents with conservative views and focused on saving money.

They were still the same couple that could tell me what I was doing wrong and how I should “straighten up and fly right". They were the same couple. Weren't they?

It was only a passing thought...the first time I came home for my dutiful visit.

It was only later that we all became very mortal... and I miss them both.

I'm remembering it now... as my daughter came home after being gone more than a year...off on her life's journey to see and absorb the world on her own terms.

Hopefully only a passing thought for me….

For a moment there, did I get a glimpse of the same thought in my daughter’s eyes?