Zoe Girl
2-9-13, 2:49pm
So my parents are off on a trip to the southern areas, Texas included. They are staying at elder hostels (they are both 69) and driving around. I talked to them today and they are going to the Clinton presidential museum and the national park set up for the high school that was the first in integration (I am terrible with details). My dad is also excited to visit the Heifer International site, he has been giving my kids gifts from Heifer International for at least 10 years. They also go to music venues with weird folk music that my dad likes, but some of what he listens to is okay. Years ago we all went to Washington DC. It was undersood that we would all go to the Holocaust Museum. My son was about 10 at the time. We went through and talked a lot about it. We also went to the zoo and Smithsonians and all that cool stuff.
I am realizing how cool and kinda unique my parents are, well maybe they aren't I will find out later. They just quietly are taking a vacation and putting their values in it. They are about as common mid-west as they can be in other ways, football, beer, ya know. They were never hippies in any way, don't really appreciate my vegetarianism, and have slowly realized that this meditation thing I have done for 25 years is probably more than a fling. They would never really talk about things like social justice, I even have an imaginary quote from my dad since he is so quiet, "practice what you preach, and quit preaching". My mom is more vocal, but she talks more about what she sees at the food bank when she volunteers but I know that from her comments over the years she gets heated when she sees people treated in a predjudiced way.
It just reminds me that we need to look carefully at people before thinking we know what we know, including those closest to us. And I am entirely grateful that my family is this way.
I am realizing how cool and kinda unique my parents are, well maybe they aren't I will find out later. They just quietly are taking a vacation and putting their values in it. They are about as common mid-west as they can be in other ways, football, beer, ya know. They were never hippies in any way, don't really appreciate my vegetarianism, and have slowly realized that this meditation thing I have done for 25 years is probably more than a fling. They would never really talk about things like social justice, I even have an imaginary quote from my dad since he is so quiet, "practice what you preach, and quit preaching". My mom is more vocal, but she talks more about what she sees at the food bank when she volunteers but I know that from her comments over the years she gets heated when she sees people treated in a predjudiced way.
It just reminds me that we need to look carefully at people before thinking we know what we know, including those closest to us. And I am entirely grateful that my family is this way.