wedding road trip

Home Sweet Home

My parents still live in the house I grew up in, and given real estate prices in Michigan, that trend is unlikely to change. Luckily, that means it’s easy to remember their address and home phone number. (Note to people under 40: Yes, my parents have a land line! Isn’t that novel?) We’re seeing M&D at the wedding, but swung by GR for a brief respite from the road – in other words, a full refrigerator, laundry access, and Dad grilling steaks. Plus, my Mom, who may be the most thoughtful person on earth, always sets out little helpful gifts, like maps and snacks.

We attempted to interview my parents, but that’s harder to do with your own parents than you think. First, while you may be interested in how couples keep the romance alive in their relationship, there are some things I just don’t need to know. Second, my parents seem like sweet, innocent Midwesterners, but they are actually very crafty. When we asked them questions, they responded with long stories and jokes, but managed to avoid providing actual answers.

However, in a previous encounter last fall, we did ask them what advice they would give us based on their own life experiences. Their wisdom was:

• Don’t worry so much about little things.
• Don’t over-extend yourselves financially, e.g., don’t go buy a big house that you can’t afford. Since my parents have lived in the same house for 35 years, they actually followed their own advice.

I’ll add one last piece of advice that they did not share – if you get a family pet, you can never anticipate how long of a commitment it might be. Twenty-one years ago my dad came home from work to find out that we had acquired a stray kitten. They just had to put Snowflake to sleep a few months ago and I miss her, but she changed all our lives for the better.