(I’m listening to “Little Heaven” by Toad the Wet Sprocket)

There’s nothing like a good visit from the parents.  My folks have been in town for the past nine days and the time sure does fly by.  When I was dropping them off at the airport today, it seemed like I had just picked them up the day before, and there was a good reason.  We had a lot to celebrate during their visit.  We had a 1st birthday party for Tiny, it was Mother’s Day, and my dad’s 69th birthday was on the 15th.  It was really special to have my parents here for those occasions because we don’t get to spend a lot of them together, due to us living in Denver and my parents living in Washington State.

My parents aren’t your ordinary guests.  Whenever we have other guests, they want to see Denver.  They want to go to Red Rocks, go skiing, go hiking, see the mountains, go out to eat, and that’s great!  There’s a lot to do in Denver and we love showing people around.  My parents aren’t really like that.  We’ll do some fun things, but they don’t need to be tourists.  They don’t need to go out all the time, although my mom does like to shop at the mall (so she can spoil the kids).  They don’t need to go out to eat and they don’t need to be constantly doing activities.  They just want to be here, spend time with us, be in our lives, and visit/spoil the grandchildren.  They just want to be family and it’s great.

This visit was excellent.  We just spent time being a family.  We made meals, played with the kids (Littles and Tiny just LOVE their Grandpy and Grammy) and talked about old memories; like trying to figure out what cars our family has had and in what order.  Mom made burgers and her homemade mac and cheese.  Dad helped me get my motorcycle running and gave me a ride home after selling my Jeep.  We went to Costco, the mall, and the Air Force base.  My parents also took lots of pictures.  They love taking pictures of the kids and showing them to family and friends back home.   

There were a couple of memories that really stuck out with this visit.  The first, is laughing with my dad.  He got me watching a show called “Impractical Jokers.”  It’s about four life-long friends that pull pranks and make each other say and do stupid things.  It’s hilarious.  It also made my dad and I laugh so hard.  When my dad and I laugh together, it’s not just your run of the mill laughter.  Our laughter is different.  We egg each other on to the point where we’re both making high-pitched gasps for breath and tears are running down our faces.  We laugh so hard that our laughter goes to another level because we’re now laughing at how hard the other is laughing.  It’s the kind of laughter that makes you laugh again after the original laughter has stopped.   It’s hilarious and also memorable.  My dad is hilarious.  

The other memory from this trip is of my mom playing piano.  We recently got a piano because we plan on having the girls and I take lessons.  Since that hasn’t happened yet, the piano doesn’t get much use, except for when mom is here.  At some point during the visit, she’ll grab our old church hymnal and start to play.  It’s really impressive.  I don’t know how often my mom plays, but it can’t be much since they don’t have a piano at home; but when she picks up that hymnal, she barely misses a note.  I love listening to her play.  It always bring back a flood of childhood memories of singing those hymns in Sunday night church.  So this time, when mom started to play, I sat in a chair next to her, put Littles in my lap, and began to sing along.  I won’t ever forget having my daughter sit in my lap and listening to “Grammy” play piano.  

The memories are made and suddenly it’s time to say goodbye.  I always miss them when they leave.  It just feels so sudden even though I know when they have to go.  I always wish I had more time to do more things and say the things I wanted to say.  I should say those things during the visit instead of trying to wait for the perfect time or I thinking I’d have time later; rather than ending up trying to cram it all in the 30 seconds that I’m unloading their luggage out of the car in front of the departure terminal.  That happened today and it happened too fast.  Sure, I gave them both a hug and told them how much I loved them, but it just didn’t seem like enough.

Mom and Dad, if you’re reading this, and I’m sure you are, I miss you both already.  I love you so much and I’m proud to have you as my parents.  It’s so nice having you here, spending time with you, and talking with you.  We don’t even have to do anything special, just being in the same room with you is enough for me.   I just love spending time with you.  We are so grateful and appreciative of everything you do for us and for the kids.  They really love their Grammy and Grandpy and I’m sure they can’t wait to see you again.  We can’t either.  Have a safe trip home and hopefully we will see you again really soon.  I love you both so much.  Your son, Jev.