Though we all have very different parents and there are certainly some extremely bad eggs, I think there are a number of shared experiences that resonate with most. I am thankful for how weird parents are. They are their weirdest during our teen years, of course, at our peak of self-absorption and egocentrism, believing the world is watching us and also judging us by the coolness of our family members. More than that, I am thankful for their 'larger-than-life' personae. That we adored them like that as toddlers is a given, but as the teens fade in to 20s and we have our own toddlers, we gain an appreciation for them as adults and for what they went through to parent us. Again, this makes them seem superhuman, since it miraculously seems as though they still love us unconditionally. I am thankful that by design, I am certain, God made us bond so strongly with our children that we could love them in this unique way. Whether we are worried about weirdness or adoringly imitating them as heroes, they are an abiding centre and grounding force in our psyche precisely because of this big love that only parents are capable of. Thank God (literally) for that human capacity.
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