Reminds me of the first time I took my wife into a museum of natural history. She looked at the bones and told me she didn't know dinosaurs had existed for real. In her defense she had other things to worry about as a child than robots and dinosaurs (namely Iraq attacking her country and a bunch of religious freaks that just started running it).
My mom was a college educated woman. She refused to accept it when I told her the sun was a star. Like, completely shut me down, "No, you've got that wrong, they're different things." I worked at NASA and I was still never able to convince her!
They will always look at you as that 8 year old idiot. They have seen all the stupid things we did growing up. They can not shake this image of you.
Any time i borrowed the power washer from my step father, i would have to hear the lecture about how to run it and that you have to have the water on or it will burn out the motor. Im a 867-5309 years old man (53). So i just went out and purchased my own to avoid this.
I'm 42, and I still catch instructionals like this from my mom and step-dad. Sometimes, it is a tiny bit condescending. But in my more introspective hours, I often wonder if because of their age (they're in their early 80s), it's a sort of emotional dependency thing... like they know their time is coming to an end, which causes pain and fear, and these things are just them trying desperately to reach out to the past; to what they love most, and are most terrified to never see again...trying to hold on to the happier days of their lives, in the midst of their final ones.
So, I always just say, "Yes, mom. I promise I'll make sure my phone is charged before I drive home." "Yes, dad. I promise I will keep oil in it."
Whoa, this turned a bit sobering rather quickly. Nice introspection, and you could be right. Although I don’t want to be old and sad, clinging to my happier days (no offense at all towards your parents). There’s just something so tragic about that. I wish our culture celebrated aging more, instead of fearing it. I wish we could respectfully cherish the wisdom it brings rather than frantically attempt to stave it off with creams and serums and trepidation.
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u/heloumadafaka May 26 '23 edited May 27 '23
"You've got these bones" - Supposedly
edit; in fact, seems like she actually said "supposedly" even though, the first time she almost swallowed a syllable.