I had such a wonderful conversation with my mom last night on the phone. she called me...just to tell me she loved me...and we started chatting about whatever...

first she asked if i had had any more beers with the presbyterian minister...i said no but that we had been talking a bit about homosexuality and the church...and she started talking about how it might actually split the church....

and then she brought up how when she was in oklahoma (where she and I and my older brother were born and were her/my uber christian family still lives) she felt like my homosexuality was "the pink elephant in the room". they would ask if i had a boyfriend and she would reply..."well, no boyfriends". i think maybe she might understand a little more why I was so hesitant to tell her in the first place...its amazing to see your parents grow.

we also talked about how my little brother, who still lives at home at the age of 19, and spends all his money on "poker and pot". i told her i would rather him be buying pot than alcohol...she of course said she'd rather him buy neither, but holy shit...sometimes i have a twinge of guilt because I feel like we (my older brother and I) have taken down her ability to resist...she just lets it go now....maybe this is good, maybe not, I don't know.

I also talked to my dad a little while...he had just returned from grandparents house and it seems my grandmother is losing her memory...asking about me and my older brother, wondering what it is that we are doing when she "should" know that I am in school and he is in Seattle...its weird...my grandfather was really sick a while ago, first mentally then physically, but now he is on some good medication and now my grandmother is the one who needs help. I feel way guilty about not seeing them as often as I should...both of my mom's parents are dead...they lived in OKlahoma so I rarely saw them...and my dad's parents live across town and I rarely see them still....meh.

So yeah...I guess what all this boils down to is that I am absolutely blessed with my parents...I don't think I could have ever imagined having such an open, honest relatioship with them... I guess this is one of those growing up kinda things, although I certainly know that not everyone has what I have and I am grateful.