thanks, ma and pa

We just opened a package from mom and dad Montgomery. It is full of the most valuable treasures imaginable: chocolate, fruit leathers, packets of seeds to start a veggie garden, letters from home, a good pen, dehydrated sour dough starter (my mom is a magician as well as a good cook), Dublin Morning tea bags, and a book on composting.

What a gift. My parents are endlessly generous and supportive, and I would like to make a little public announcement here about what rad people they are. A few thank-yous for all they do to show their love and make me glad to be their daughter:

Thank you, ma and pa, for the package. We are grateful and wish we could share the chocolate with you, but we ate it already.

Thank you, ma and pa, for your support. We’re far from home on this grand adventure, and it helps immensely that you are behind us in what we’re doing. Know that I cheer for you everyday, too.

Thank you, ma and pa, for believing in me. You have tempted me to think that I can achieve anything I set my heart on. So far, it’s worked out pretty well.

Thank you, ma and pa, for taking risks in your own lives. You have shown me that your path is what you make it, that no one else will make it for you, and that you should take the weird way sometimes to keep it interesting.

Thank you, ma and pa, for being fun. You played legos with me and laughed at my jokes and taught me to ski and played word games with me on our long road trips to the cottage. I don’t think a day goes by that I don’t have a little fun, and I’ll credit you for showing me how to enjoy the small bits of each one.

Thank you, ma and pa, for being so freakin’ awesome. I admire our family tremendously and think we belong in a museum (plaque would read, ‘Freakin’ awesome family of six. Notice genial nature and general gayety of members’). Of course, we’d never stay in the museum –too many plants to be planted and trails to be explored to sit inside all day.

I love you guys and am grateful for all the hope and confidence and comfort you’ve put into me over the years. You did good. I turned out all right. My sister, too. And even our husbands and good. Consider the job well done.

So, a toast to my ma and pa, and all our ma’s and pa’s, for the good they’ve done in bringing us up. And thanks for the tea. It’s delicious.