it's my dad's birthday today
it's my dad's birthday today so i gave him a call this morning.
lately, since my uncle's death, i have the feeling that my dad has finally realized that he is mortal and that his time with me is limited and he keeps emphasizing how little time we have together.
honestly, as much as i love my parents, until they learn to let go a little, i would never be able to live with them.
and here's the thing. the families in the US assume that the time with their children is limited from the beginning (in an ideal situation, that is. people usually have a porous concept of time). so they know that they will have up to high school and then the children will go off to lead their own lives.
well... my parents, and i daresay a lot of korean parents out there, never really acknowledged that. after all, in korea, people don't move out until they're married. if you do, people wonder if there are family troubles or something. so because they never really lived those years with me thinking of the limited time that we'd have, they spent it doing other things: working, mainly.
so they are faced with this situation where they finally want to spend time with me (which in their eyes means i live with them) but i'm in a position where i have to shape the foundations of my future.
it's a situation where they will have to be disappointed, and i hate that. but still... i try my best. after all, i don't know that many people that fly home as frequently as i do.