A tribute to my parents

My parents may not be the perfect of parents but I see them as being responsible, hardworking and faithful to each other and the family that they have built up together over the last 50 years.

My dad was in the armed forces in his early twenties and I and four other siblings who were born after me literally grew in the setting of the army base for more than twenty years. Because of Dad's job he was an absent father figure and so for many years of the early stage of my life I grew up almost without his presence in many aspects.

I never really knew how it felt to have a father-daughter kind of bond and that left a deep and real emotional void within me. But I thanked God that it is in finding the love and care of God as the Eternal Father that healed my inner wounds and thus I was able to accept my father's 'failure' to father me. Over the years he himself has found his own healing and as the years went by our relationship has gotten better. He is interested in my life and I know I make him proud with the way my life has turn out to be. I do love and accept my dad completely as the years goes by as the love of God heals us.

My mum is a different story. She and I seemed to have this soul tie that is both positive and negative. The positive is that my mum has always been there for me, helping me through my struggles as a teenager and has seen the best and worst of me. That's why I deeply appreciate her.

The negative is that she can also be aloof and distant at times. However I feel that I have been able to cut the negative tie and nurture the positive aspect of our relationship as I moved on emotionally in my life. I know she loves me and is concerned about my life. And I think since living away from them over the last 10 years has helped to create a healthy 'space' between us so that we are able to accept and appreciate each other more meaningfully.

My parents are a blessing to me because through them I've learned a lot of life lessons especially through their marriage relationship. They modeled to me what it means to have and to hold, for better and for worse, for richer or poorer and in sickness and health. I have never seen two people who expressed the reality and rawness of this level of human relationship like they do. They may not be the most perfect of parents but I love them anyway.