“So the other day my father told me about what great sex him and my mother had - eeeeeeuw gross!!!” – I think I must have heard this statement or something similar at least 1000 times in my life!

What is WITH people that react like this to the intimate lives of their parents?! Did they not attend school and learn about the birds and the bees, or did they just develop early alzheimers? How do they think that THEY came to be in the first place?!

Please could somebody explain to me what is SO disgusting, mortifying and humiliating about hearing your parents discuss their intimacy?! To be honest, I would think that in this day and age where divorce is so prevalent and marriage is simply a piece of paper, you would think there would be a level of gratitude that your folks are actually even intimate in the first bloody place!

PARENTS ARE PEOPLE TOO

I have just never understood why people get so “grossed out” by this… and to be quite frank I am thankful that I do not seem to share the same perspective as a seemingly great portion of people.

I prefer, to look at my parents and remember how once upon a time, they didn’t have any children… they were young, free and single – just as we all were (or are). They went through all the same life stages, experimented, experienced and had fun!

Here's an example... a photo of my mom and dad. My dad had just finished a marathon run and apparently they had an argument because my mom hadnt caught his time accurately... or something like that (i forget the details) - point being... oh look! They are human beings... not just "parents"! lol :)

Yesterday my mom shared a photograph with me. It was one of a very dear friend of hers. They were the best of friends in their mid-twenties, lost touch and have recently reunited. She showed me a pic of her friend as “she remembers her” in her younger years, so to speak and then one of her now. She made a passing comment to me about how the older one gets, the more fleeting life becomes.

This was said in response to me moaning and groaning about how utterly exhausted I have been feeling this week.

I absorbed the comment and thought too, about the photos she shared with me, and it made me think of all of them when they were younger. How wonderful it would have been to “meet” my parents when they were in their mid-twenties or early thirties…

See... my mom was also a "littley" once upon a time... she didn't just arrive on earth via UFO as a 20 something, ready to start chopping vegetables...

and oh look... my dad was in the army, he didn't just get dropped on to earth one day by a parent delivering stork... (I think this was an army photo... and if that was not an army uniform, then he had a really odd sense of dress style.. lol

For some reason, people seem to forget that their parents are living, breathing, feeling beings too. Just like them. No, they did not suddenly appear the day you were born, to clean your nappies, make your school lunches and give you spending cash. They were toddlers, tweens and teens too.

THEY. ARE. PEOPLE. – Not just parents!

It surprises me that so many young “parents” (my generation) seem to forget this fact. I would have thought that through parenting your own child, whilst being acutely aware that you too still have a character, soul, desires, goals, dreams etc. would remind you that your parents are no different in that respect…

I am a parent, and I am VERY much still alive and kicking with plenty of desires (ok, ok, leave it there folks), dreams, goals and aspirations.

So... the next time we engage with our folks, let's try not to forget all of this, shall we ;)

I mean, look at my mom @lizziesworld - she was so naughty, she even made the newspaper.... hehehehe

Until next time...

Much Love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx