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skonen_bladesParents
The word swoops in on stork wings, causing terror in some and the deepest love in others.
They’re walking into autumn.
Parents
The building blocks of a person’s life spelled out.
They’re living an eclipse.
They’re half human and half ocean sunset.
Waters best treaded lightly.
The light that burns half as bright burns twice as long.
Or so they hope.
In the best worlds, the word parent is a synonym for safety.
A word that sparks all the gratefulness possible in a person.
Tinged though it may be with lifelong frustration and resentment at the edges.
Bridges uncrossed, gulfs unbridgeable, and sailboats engulfed.
Parents
Playing dead so well they’ve gone full method actor.
This is their impression of a clothesline.
Call them scarecrows
Call them paused
Call them slow motion.
Call them the missing teeth in some people’s mouths.
The reason for some people’s sharp corners.
Not everyone’s cut out to be a parent.
But when a parent gets it right, it’s a tower that reaches the stars.
A happy javelin thrown into the future.
The word should be in the thesaurus under caring
Under security.
Under comfort.
Under undiluted, unconditional love.
You never stop being someone’s child.
And they never stop being someone’s parent.
A good parent should be a pillow for your heart to go to sleep on.
And a drive to keep you focused in the day.
Parents try to get it right and often fail.
Like your friend’s did.
Like yours did.
Parents need to be ‘used condom is half-full' kind of people
This is their impression of an empty bucket.
Watch them be parking lot.
Watch them be low tide.
The living embodiment of a discarded air guitar.
They can't breathe underwater but they can hold their breath for 45 years.
Let's flip a coin and disappear before it lands, they say.
Let's climb into Schroedinger's box and snuggle up with that cat, they say.
Parents embarrass their mirrors.
Parents are war zone pillow fights.
They’re aging into irrelevance and maybe the most alarming thing about it is that they don’t mind.
No panic.
Just patient sinking.
Just love for friends.
Just quiet desperation.
Just tombstone lullabies for old people.
Don't get them wrong.
They love life and they’re not going anywhere.
It's just that they put down roots in the path of a forest fire.
And when it comes to a broken life, it’s hard to say that it was the thought that counts.
I have heard it said that If one is a bad parent, then it doesn’t matter what else one does well.
I want to say all parents have always been there for their children.
I want to say you’re at ease around yours.
But that’s for the greeting cards and the happy endings of sitcoms.
The truth is darker. Different. More complex.
The most you can ask of a parent is that they did their best.
If their best was good enough,
Then you have reason to be grateful.
tags
The word swoops in on stork wings, causing terror in some and the deepest love in others.
They’re walking into autumn.
Parents
The building blocks of a person’s life spelled out.
They’re living an eclipse.
They’re half human and half ocean sunset.
Waters best treaded lightly.
The light that burns half as bright burns twice as long.
Or so they hope.
In the best worlds, the word parent is a synonym for safety.
A word that sparks all the gratefulness possible in a person.
Tinged though it may be with lifelong frustration and resentment at the edges.
Bridges uncrossed, gulfs unbridgeable, and sailboats engulfed.
Parents
Playing dead so well they’ve gone full method actor.
This is their impression of a clothesline.
Call them scarecrows
Call them paused
Call them slow motion.
Call them the missing teeth in some people’s mouths.
The reason for some people’s sharp corners.
Not everyone’s cut out to be a parent.
But when a parent gets it right, it’s a tower that reaches the stars.
A happy javelin thrown into the future.
The word should be in the thesaurus under caring
Under security.
Under comfort.
Under undiluted, unconditional love.
You never stop being someone’s child.
And they never stop being someone’s parent.
A good parent should be a pillow for your heart to go to sleep on.
And a drive to keep you focused in the day.
Parents try to get it right and often fail.
Like your friend’s did.
Like yours did.
Parents need to be ‘used condom is half-full' kind of people
This is their impression of an empty bucket.
Watch them be parking lot.
Watch them be low tide.
The living embodiment of a discarded air guitar.
They can't breathe underwater but they can hold their breath for 45 years.
Let's flip a coin and disappear before it lands, they say.
Let's climb into Schroedinger's box and snuggle up with that cat, they say.
Parents embarrass their mirrors.
Parents are war zone pillow fights.
They’re aging into irrelevance and maybe the most alarming thing about it is that they don’t mind.
No panic.
Just patient sinking.
Just love for friends.
Just quiet desperation.
Just tombstone lullabies for old people.
Don't get them wrong.
They love life and they’re not going anywhere.
It's just that they put down roots in the path of a forest fire.
And when it comes to a broken life, it’s hard to say that it was the thought that counts.
I have heard it said that If one is a bad parent, then it doesn’t matter what else one does well.
I want to say all parents have always been there for their children.
I want to say you’re at ease around yours.
But that’s for the greeting cards and the happy endings of sitcoms.
The truth is darker. Different. More complex.
The most you can ask of a parent is that they did their best.
If their best was good enough,
Then you have reason to be grateful.
tags