The parental apocalypse that never happened

Above you see my dads black Yaris and moms red Mini Cooper in the same parking lot. Woah.

For many reasons I fear the presence of both my parents together.

I avoid it for my own comfort as much as for theirs. Usually they only see each other at major family events...graduations or weddings or things like that. Those meetings have not always gone well.

It has to be understood that my parents are completely admirable, truly good people. They are intelligent in a way one hardly ever encounters and they are principled in a way that serves the world concretely and psychically. They are loving parents who do their hippy roots proud. They should however never be in the same room.

Mom lives with us now and is doing a heroes work of being a major figure in the raising of the kids. She is a primary caregiver that takes the kids to nature centers and library days and pick-your-own farms. She gives them  art day and story time and flash cards and all of the things I wish I was giving them.

She still works at her job. There is now way we could ever afford to insure her so she has to keep working in order to get her diabetes medicine and make her car payments and generally live. She is a hospice nurse. I have mentioned before how incredible I find that work. I could never do it. She is brave and nurturing and no nonsense in all the ways a nurse should be.

After years as a landscaper my dad went back to school and got his masters in Special Education. He now devotes his life (I mean his life.. nearly all his spare time and energy, school-in or school-out) to his 'kids'. Check out this article or this one to get an idea of what he does.

As a house warming present, he offered to come up to our place and do some landscaping for us.

My gracious, the difference one day can make in the hands of a professional. Suddenly the yard has sunlight! There is way less poison ivy! There is the beginning of a forest walk on the back property!

Oh man ... this is day one of what was planned as a 3 day, but is a bit of an open ended streak, of house warming wonder.

When he is done I will put up some before and after shots.

My parents were together and nothing happened at all.

In other news the berries have arrived.

Yum.