What If Wednesday is a feature dedicated to answering questions from Piccadilly’s 3000 What if Questions. Filled with both “absurd and realistic” questions, these are meant to inspire thought as well as act as a writing prompt.
What if you grew up with different parents…
What would you miss the most?
Such an oddly worded question, filled with vagueness and open to interpretation. This is the first question in the book, and all of the questions are this style of one-sentence questions.
It doesn’t specify if I have knowledge of my current parents, or these “different” parents are the only ones I have ever known. As with all questions worded like this, it would be so easy to simply say, “how can I miss what I don’t know?”
But for the sake of this exercise, let’s play along.
First off, it’s impossible to choose just one aspect. I am fortunate enough that I am quite close to my immediate family. I have always been close with my father, who I personally feel like I take the most after. We are of similar minds, habits, and tastes. That being said, my mother is an amazing person who would move mountains for me if I but asked.
While neither is perfect, there are so many things I appreciate about them. My mother constantly buys little presents for Soulmate and me, regardless of if there is an occasion or not. Sometimes, I will come home or wake up to little gifts on my porch or just inside my front door. Her family takes up so much space in her brain, she is constantly thinking of us. And there is so much heart and love that goes into every gift she buys for us, big or small.
Every morning, I get a good morning text from her as well. It’s really a group chat involving my sister, mother, and me. Sometimes it’s a simple “good morning.” Other times, one of us decides to be ridiculous with silly images, gifs, or responses. Whether I respond or not, however. I always look forward to that good morning text. I know there will come a day when they will no longer come, and I hope that day is very, very far away.
My father is someone who is always there for me regardless, to help in any way he can. After buying a house, I found myself going to him first with any questions I had or maintenance I needed help with. Each time, he was both patient and informative, sharing his vast array of knowledge with me without judgment.
But it wasn’t just his assistance he gave. Oftentimes, he would also sit with Soulmate and me, chatting as if he had all the time in the world to just be with us even if he didn’t. Many of those times, I would buy him dinner to make sure I knew he ate food that day, even if it was just a sandwich from Arby’s.
I suppose that is the answer to my question of what I would miss the most. Call it love. Call it devotion. Call it selflessness. The bottom line is that I can feel my parent’s love for me in everything they do and the words that they say. At the end of the day, I have no question as to whether they love me or not. And I know there is little I have to fear because of their love.
Hmm, I initially didn’t intend for this post to be so deep and sappy. Therefore, I am going to throw out a couple of simple answers.
For my dad, I would miss the excitement that fills him when he’s talking about a subject he finds particularly fascinating such as space or maps.
For my mother, it would be how she laughs so hard she cries or how much she loves to laugh.
Rain for Roses 