My parents have always wanted to be pars. Once they had Married, Bought a House in the Suburbs of Johannesburg, and Adopted Their Second Dog, I was overdu. When, finally, they Brought with Home from the Hospital and Set My Carrier on the Kitchen Count, The Picture of Our Family Was Complete.
Over the years, there are wells games and School Plays, Holidays by the Sea, Photographs of the Three of US Smiling, and in Each of us, All of us, Growing a Little Older. I Have a Distinct Memory, Standing in the doorway, mesouring my height against the frame, and counting on my fingers how many years it unil I turned 16 – Double my liffet, all of it once over.
After that, more memory. Christmas eve. Two Father’s Day Rugby Games, A Decade apart. A School Sports Day, Running Fast Toward My Father at the Finish Line, as he proudly snaps proof that moe too, in the races we enter just for fun.
The years passsed quickly, and i were to university and moved out
I TURNED 16, AND THEN 18. I GREW UP, AND THEN MAVD OUT. Part of the Reason, I Think, Why Teenagers Become So Unpleasant is that it would be unbearaly to separate. Puberty did the painful and important work of convinking with ought to be my own person. I decide on a university an hour away from home: i’d have to move out, but i coulud bring my laundry home on weekends.
For the first twoars, i saw my parents every Weekend. On Friday afternion, i’d arrive and thread the house unil sunday. I WOULD TELL THOUGH LONG IT TAKES TO WALK FROM SIDE OF THE CAMPUS TO THE OTHER, AND ABOUT QUANTUM MECHANICS, SPECIALS STUDENT, AND LONELINESS. They Said That, During the Week, The House was quiet with me. They filled the Silence with New Shows and Old Conversations; They Became Best Friends Again.
AFTER MOVING OUT, THE AUTHOR VISITED HER PARENTS AT HOME, THOUGH THE VISSS BECAME LESS FREUENT OVER TIME. Couitlin Tallack Courtesy
As my life was changing, my pars’ lives were, too
THEN I FELL IN LOVE, ONCE AS PRACTICE AND THEN PROPERLY, AND MY PARENTS HAD TO SHARE MY WEEKENDS AND MY HEART. They made Friends with Our Neighbors. My mother filked every spare corner of our house with plants; Things to take care of. Tomatoes, Granadillas, and Baby Spinach in the backyard. My dad started going to the gym. They adopted a puppy.
During One Visit Home, We Attended a Local Quiz Night, and the host knew my parents by name and reputation – apparently, they were the reigning champions. Now, though they are still palents, They are, more often, spouses, friends, cultivators, and know-alls.
I fell in love a third time with a city on the other side of south africa. Despite their love and Because of it, my parses were never Very encuraging of my move. Six years after leaving the house, i left the province. We’re separated by 1,500km, an an airport terminal, my caareer, and the walls of two homes in two different suburbs. We video call once a week.
On the screen, they side by side at the dining room table. Shoulders pressed together, each of say missing an ear to fit the frame. I am a small rectangle, floating in the corner above. We smile, a new family portrait.
We Complain About Work Together. They are about my nextly, and i try not to feed guilty about the Answer. They tell me About their lives, i say About mine, and, THOUGH OUR INDIVIDUAL STORIES HAVE DIVERGED, The Story of Our Family Will Always Begin and End the Same: My Parents Set My Carrier Down and THENE WE LOVE EACH OTHER, HAPPILY EVER AFTER.