When I started college, I was determined to return and build up my hometown. But after my freshman year, my perspective began to shift. Living away from home, I gradually became used to being independent.
Whenever I went home for winter break, the pattern stayed the same: I discussed my studies with my father and life with my mother. Going back to school brought a pang of reluctance, but those feelings eventually wore off. After I built a life of my own and got married, a subtle embarrassment entered my relationship with my parents. I realized I could no longer be as candid about my genuine feelings as I had been in childhood. There was no single event that caused it. It happened gradually.
I think the distance came from living independent lives and no longer knowing much about each other's day-to-day experiences. Gradually, my parents stopped understanding me as they once had, and it became difficult to make them understand my choices or where I was in life. Over time, I stopped bothering to explain.
When I started college, I was determined to return and build up my hometown. But after my freshman year, my perspective began to shift. Living away from home, I gradually became used to being independent.
Whenever I went home for winter break, the pattern stayed the same: I discussed my studies with my father and life with my mother. Going back to school brought a pang of reluctance, but those feelings eventually wore off. After I built a life of my own and got married, a subtle embarrassment entered my relationship with my parents. I realized I could no longer be as candid about my genuine feelings as I had been in childhood. There was no single event that caused it. It happened gradually.
I think the distance came from living independent lives and no longer knowing much about each other's day-to-day experiences. Gradually, my parents stopped understanding me as they once had, and it became difficult to make them understand my choices or where I was in life. Over time, I stopped bothering to explain.
