The 20-something half

I am the 20-something half of this blog, the 60-something's eldest daughter. We hope to hear from many other pairs down the road.

I had an interesting thought yesterday, as I was sauteing kale, watching midday TV; balancing the healthy with the guilty pleasures.

I was thinking about my parents, worrying about them, fretting about future careers for my mom, and ways to help my dad feel "juicier" in his life. Then I was thinking about me, and worrying and fretting about my life. And then I had a new thought in the midst of my daily anxiety agonizing, which was:

This is the moment when my life and my parents overlaps, not because of any sort of dependency, but because our life purposes are actually overlapping for the first time, ever. The circumstances are a little different of course, but our purposes are astonishingly similar.

They are trying to figure out who they are, where they want to be and what they want to be doing, in the absence of steady careers and family life. And I am trying to figure out who I am, where I want to be and what I want to be doing, in the absence of a steady school schedule and family life.

Wow, I have always intrinsically known this, but now I am a true believer: there is so much we can share with one another, us adult children and our parents.

Watch this 5-min short film, all the way through: http://youtu.be/U08lAYIdZlE

I did a little laughing and a little crying.