But that we can handle. So the * 3 * popped into sight, and the biological clock turned into a timebomb, but all in all : midlife crisis still seems far away. Our aging parents on the other hand : that’s something else. Suddenly they don’t look like parents anymore, but like grandparents, even though there’s not a grandchild in sight. They are still always there for you – but when you take one of them to hospital, there’s this strange feeling that roles are being reversed. There’s the ice cold realization that they won’t be around forever – and you feel yourself dangeling at the end of an existential line. They showed you the world – now they’re not grasping the world you live in.
You still love them as much as you did as a kid, maybe even more, but with a melancholical twist to it. You admire them, not because you still believe they have some kind of superpower and can do or make everything, but simply because they made their way through life – giving you all your chances while doing so. And you realize that those gods of your childhood are in fact mortal beings, with their flaws, mistakes, limitations, wrong judgements and bad decisions.
It’s the irony of life : as you grow up, and start realizing how much you love them, at the same time, you find they are no longer your role models in each and every aspect of life. The moment you fully realize how much you love them, at the same time, you know your time together is limited.
So I’m glad I took Fernando’s advice, and told (or rather wrote) them how much I love them. I never thought an INSEAD professor would make me do such a thing – it’s just another surprise of those months in Fonty.
1 comment:
Fernando is something, isn't he?
It's also amazing to note that regardless of where we come from, what cultural background and what life experiences we had, we all often thing about certain things pretty much the same way. Reading about your post on parents felt like I was wrote it myself!
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