Dear Parents,
I remember once, when I was fairly young, coming to a sudden realization that kind of terrified me. I realized all at once that nobody could ever really know someone else as well as they know themselves. You can spent all of your time together and know all you can about each other, but still it seems entirely impossible to completely and utterly reveal yourself to another person. This really scared me in the context of my family. I realized that no matter how close I was with my parents or my siblings, I could never really know all that was going on in their minds, why they do what they do, how they think. I think it is important to realize that this goes both ways, that as open as I can make myself be, there will always be layers of myself never seen or understood. Though this was a scary thought for me at the time, I don't really think it is a bad thing anymore. It is almost comforting to know nobody can say for certain why I do the things I do, and to know I don't know for certain what anybody else, particularly you (parents), do the things you do. I have come to accept it as a crucial understanding in the relationship between a parent and a child. So often we do things to each other that seem senseless and mean and one-sided, but we must remember that we never really know what the other was thinking. I am comfortable enough in my relationship with my parents to say with confidence that they are generally doing what they do for me and my happiness and if I can keep that overarching idea in mind, maybe I don't need to read into the intricacies of their minds and their thoughts. Maybe we can just be happy knowing if we knew what the other was thinking, we would be experiencing mutual love and affection and respect.
