30 Day Writing Challenge: Day 3

Day 3 — Your parents

My parents… what to say about them?

I love them. To me they are the greatest parents in the world. Yeah, we have our share of arguments, especially my mom and I but even then they are the greatest.

My mom is a retired state worker. At one point she was the Assistant Director for the Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation. She currently holds her real estate license and has sold a few houses. Mom likes to remind me that she grew up without plumbing until she was 15. Y’know, one of those things she tries to guilt trip me with. Usually it doesn’t work. In the past 2 years she’s had 4 major surgeries and they have really put her immune system down to 0. I hope she has all this behind her now. She’s in a bad mood when she’s recovering for the most part and since I’m the one whose home the most guess who she takes it out on? Yup. Me.

Don’t get me wrong. I love my mom. I wouldn’t trade her for anyone in the world. She often tells me, “I’m not here to be your friend, I’m your mother” to which I say, “Did I say I wanted you to be my friend?” Yeah, there was a point I wanted my mom to be my friend. Middle school was terrible for me. I didn’t have any friends and I desperately wanted someone to talk to. I was incredibly jealous of the freedom the friends I gained toward the end of 8th grade year had and the open relationship they had with their mom’s. But now… not so much. My mom is my mom. Maybe when I’m 50 we can be friends.

My dad is the hardest working man I know. He has always been my hero. Yeah, I’m a major daddy’s girl. My dad is the one who gave me the name “Olivia”. Mom never wanted me named that, she hated it in fact. The agreement was to call me by my middle name but that didn’t happen, except when I’m in trouble.

Anyway, my dad is a farmer and you will not find anyone who loves what they do better. He leaves the house each morning by 7am and doesn’t come in until dark or better. 7 days a week, 365 days a year. He used to raise tobacco but with all the cuts in recent years it made more sense to sell out. Now he raises beef cattle and shares a excavating business with my uncle.

One of my biggest fears is that my dad won’t be here. I know it’ll happen, everyone dies eventually. But it scares me to think of it happening within the next five or even ten years. He had a close call about a year ago. They were cutting a tree down and a rotten limb broke off and hit him in the back. If it had just hit a bit higher it would have broken his neck. Nevermind the fact that my parents didn’t feel the need to tell me about this until a WEEK later.

Dad is a quiet guy for the most part. He has a great sense of humor though. It amazes my friends when he cracks a joke, usually they just stare at him in shock for a bit. Dad is the best.