The upside to getting older

I've got to say out front. I'm not a fan of getting older. Yes. There are advantages: cheaper insurance, much better self-confidence, and a little more patience than I had when I was younger. Those are all great, and go a long way towards peace of mind and general well-being. That said, I'm not a fan of getting older.

An advantage to getting older though that IS worth it is getting to be friends with my parents. Not just friendly, but the mental-age discrepancy and power imbalance of parent/child isn't there any more. I'm old enough now to remember my parents at my age. (If that makes sense to you, cool. If not, just move along. It's not a key thought, just an observation.) It's cool I think to be able to be friends with my parents. It doesn't mean they're perfect or did everything right or that we had a Brady life. It was pretty good and they did really good in my opinion. If I had kids I'd let 'em raise them and that's a compliment... the part where they would say "Hell no! We did our time! You having one just like you is one of our prayers answered!" is beside the point.

I'm just really glad to have both of them still there, and still together, and that they're the kind of people I would want to be friends with. Everybody's not that lucky and I lucked out and drew a good card when they were handing out parents. For that, I'm pretty thankful.