A Perfect Mess: 3/30 - Describe your relationship with your parents

I have the best parents in the world.

You're probably thinking to yourself, Jenny might be over-exaggerating a bit on this one...

Nope.

I literally have the world's greatest parents. I've met some other Moms and Dads that are pretty cool, but let's be honest... nobody comes close to Marc and Mel.

It's blurry, but I love this picture

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I'm not going to lie and say that I've always thought my parents were the coolest people in the world or that we have always gotten along. I haven't and we haven't - that's life. But my parents have loved me unconditionally my entire life and the older I get, the more I realize that they are saints for that.

My childhood was awesome. Mom insists that we are looking through rose-colored lenses, but my sister and I regularly bring up how lucky we were growing up. We lived in a little town in a house that looked like a log cabin. Mom and Dad built it and it was surrounded by woods and only a few fields away from our Grandparents house. We ran around in our yard and explored the those woods constantly. The best part is that Mom and Dad ran around and explored with us too - and they enjoyed it. Mom stayed home with us when we were little and we spent our days reading, making crafts, building blanket forts and just being awesome. Dad would come home from work and find the house transformed into a giant obstacle course made of string and instead of getting upset, he would dive right in and play with us.

Marc rocking the flannel and beard better than any hipster

The three of us went through a rough patch for a couple years, like all kids and parents do, but even then they always had my back. I can't count how many times they have dragged me up from rock bottom, wiped away my tears and helped me get back on my feet. If it weren't for them, who knows if I would be here today or what kind of person I would be. The older I've gotten, the more I realize that my parents are pretty darn cool and that I'm lucky to have them. I don't have to censor myself around them because I know that while they may not agree with everything I say, they support the fact that I form my own opinions about things. Looking back, they've always had this way of gently guiding me through life lessons, letting me figure out things on my own while they stood close by, ready to jump in and help. Now that I am ~~pretending to be~~ an adult, the parent/child relationship formalities have started to fade into more of friendship. I can talk to them about anything and often find myself seeking out their advice instead of avoiding it.

My parents have taught me countless things, but the thing that has stuck out the most was just how to be a good person. I have always known them to be forgiving, easy-going, accepting and loving people. They also have taught me what love is. Not just from loving me, but from loving each other. I always used to grumble that they set the bar so high and I would never find a love like theirs, but that taught me what relationships are supposed to be like. You are supposed to still be head over heels in love with each other after 34 years together! All in all, my parents are amazing. They are crazy, funny, perfect messes just like me...