your relationship with your parents

[Trip Stuyvesant]

My parents were pretty conservative Republican Catholics, but when I came out to them in 1995 (I was 34 at the time), the first thing they said was "We love you." It was seven years before they acknowledged my partner again, but in time, they got to a wonderful place before Dad died in 2010. As a matter of fact, Dad told my older sister two weeks before he died that he wanted me to receive Holy Communion at his funeral Mass because, as far as he was concerned, there was "nothing wrong with (his) son."

Thanks, Dad! I love you and miss you.

(And Mom? I think she likes my hubby more than she likes me now!)

Be honest with yourself and those around you. You may get more tolerance than you expected.

 

[bw92116]

Not close to my father when I was a kid, because he was alcoholic. Did get closer to him in later years, though, before he passed away in 1994. Much closer to my mother, in fact I take care of her full time now, she's 93. Although I think she still favors my older sisters over me, even though they do nothing to care for her...

 

[mikey3000]

My father passed away from cancer when I was 10, right when I needed him most, and had no male role model to look up to. I repressed a lot with his death and tried as best as I could to grow into a man. My mom turned me into her surogate husband for the next thirty years. Huge issues there too. Now that she is terminal with cancer and living with me and my wife, watching her slip away has made me think of my dad more and what I missed out on all along. The one thing I have learned in this life is, whether we love or hate our patents, we will miss them when they're gone.