The parents have passed on. Many of my friends have gone through this or are going through the difficult process of saying good-bye to the people that introduced them to the world. For the most part my parents gave me good advice but I didn’t always follow it, until one day I realized that the only people that really cared what happened to me were my parents. They probably spoke the truth to me more often then anyone else. “Don’t do as I do, but do as I say.” Easy to say but more difficult to follow. Now I only have myself to give me advice. But at this stage of the game what advice is left to give or follow? Invest your money wisely? Too late. Everything in moderation? Didn’t always follow that rule and so I’ve lost some teeth due to too much sugar, wore high heels and shortened the old Achilles tendons, watched TV and sat too close. Now I wear glasses, and a bunch of other small miseries assail me because I didn’t heed their advice. It’s been only seven months since mom decided to step through the veil and leave things to the rest of us, and 23 years since dad passed as a result of complications from smoking. While sorting through my mom’s belongings I discovered an old fortune cookie saying that she’d saved, “Quality isn’t expensive. It’s priceless.” My mom’s last piece of parting advice. They were quality parents, not without foibles and problems, but they were priceless.
