letting go

the most common grip kids have with their parents is that
they don't realise we're growing up

of course when a 10 year old says that mournfully to your face, the intial reaction is to supress a laugh then go on to kindly explain that parents need time.

but when a bunch of 20 years olds gather round a table and compete for the title of 'the one with the most smothering mother/strictest father' with increasingly funnier ancedotes, it gets you to wonder.

parents are our... well, parents. they mother you, they parent you, and certainly scold the crap out of you. but they have as much to learn as we do.

and the struggle is always that parents don't seem to realise we've grown up. They certainly expect the most out of you, they trust that you are big enough to do the small things on your own. they expect you to maintain your grades, to make your bed and do your laundry and survive. but when it comes to realising that the 20 year old kid is no longer that cute little thing that always depended on them, their brain shuts down.
like its the biggest denial they will ever trick themselves into.

but that's not my point.
my point is that for 20 years, we're essentially parasites, feeding off their bank accounts and destroying any chance they have at being cool. but somehow they love us even more. like stockholm's syndrome or something.
and suddenly within a span of a few months, they are expected to tell the kids to trot off and don't bother us.
its hard, we know. to allow us to do that is one thing, to believe that they should do that is another.
so in recognition of that, for allowing me to trot off to another continent and survive calling me once a week, thank you mum & dad.

thanks for allowing me to live my life.
thanks for letting me go and realising that i'm 19 years old and therefore should not be treated like a 9 year old.
thanks to dad for slipping me an extra $100 before i go off so that i have the cash to go buy supper.
thanks to mum for spoiling me like crap when i come back to sg
thanks for allowing me to make my own choices. even if you don't support it, you still say you do (i know mum's still secretly hoping that i'll go into commerce.)

so... mum, can my curfew be extended?
i've got to be the only 2nd year uni student with a 11 pm curfew in singapore.
come on...
please?