Me and my Mom

My parents are coming to visit in 11 days, and I'm thrilled. I really miss them, and not in a "they're my parents, and so I miss them" kind of way. My parents are my friends, and when you're used to seeing your friends every day, it's hard to live 1600 km away.

I think one of the major reasons that my parents and I have the relationship that we do is that they're so young. My mother is 44 and my dad turns 46 on June 27th. Yep. I'm 25, so you do the math. I know people who have siblings that are older than them than my parents are me. But with them being so young, they still remember having the life experiences that I'm having now, and they can commiserate and give good advice. I've been researching mortgages all week (it's actually quite fascinating, although it scares me that someone is willing to give me $250,000) and my mom remembers exactly what it was like to be my age and buy her first house. My parents just bought a new house last June, and that makes it even better, because they just did it all again. It's nice to have people to talk to who have that kind of life experience. It's the same with the hubby's brother and sister-in-law. They've done it, and they've got the good advice. I have to say, my parents are kind of old for their age (look at Marcia Cross, who is 44 and just had twins, whereas my parents are almost empty-nesters already), but so am I, so it all works out.

My parents and I didn't always get along as well as we do now. They were obviously really young when they had children, and they were extra strict to make up for it. It used to drive me crazy, but now that I'm older, I appreciate it. I've never made any really stupid decisions, and I think a lot of that is because I was raised well. I might not be as adventurous as some people, also because of how I was raised, but I'm getting better. And so is my mom. She took her first plane trip (ever!) last year to Calgary, and she and my dad are planning a trip somewhere to belatedly celebrate their 25th anniversary (they were going to go earlier, but bought themselves a house instead). I'm glad that I didn't have to grow up as fast as my parents did, but I won't mind being like them when I'm their age.