#NerdsUnite: An open letter to my parental units
I'm in a life mode right now of ABSOLUTELY questioning everything. I can't stop asking literally every person I meet, "so what's the meaning of life?" From commercially successful people, to personally fulfilled - to my great frustration all of their answers have left me only asking more questions.
I genuinely don't know what life means more than any of you. I can only speak to what I've observed in the past and what I am currently observing on my journey to help provide a piece of the puzzle.
Growing up, my parents were super hard on my brother and I. Not in a bad way, obvi, but they always always always pushed us to be better, to do more - and not by commercial definition but by what they knew we were capable of. I vividly remember at 19 my father having the conversation with me, "if you want to move to Los Angeles, just MOVE THERE!!!"
What did I do?
I planned my move to LA a few weeks later; I have now lived here for almost 9 years and have absolutely built a name for myself with my bare hands. (Thanks for the push dad!)
My father is a very special human being. I didn't realize it growing up as being a female I was naturally more drawn to my mother, but my dad being a corporate lawyer is the definition of no bull shit. I couldn't lie to my father growing up if I tried (although yes, I did try, and I absolutely never got away with it).
My parents are both truth seekers, and growing up in that dynamic shaped me greatly and I have never given them credit for it.
My mother is the queen of nurturing and she LOVES her children more than you could possibly articulate, but that balance of no bullshit and unconditional love has made me so much of who I am today.
I vividly remember growing up my parents encouraging my brother and I to be the best (and whatever that meant to us). Having grown up in an environment where my extended family literally pinned my brother and I against each other, it would have been SUPER easy for my brother and I to hate each other - and instead due to my parent's loving nature, we could genuinely not be closer.
Family is everything in life.
I have learned that friends will come and go (and especially the more successful that you become the EVEN MORE people that will come and want to be around you) - but family is life. Even when I was recently left with a day to myself in Miami before I tweeted or posted on Facebook what was going down, I IMMEDIATELY called my parental units to just give them the heads up that my day was free and should they also be free that we could kick it!!
They might have been COMPLETELY spooked at what I had gotten myself into, but they trusted that when I say "things are fine" that they genuinely are.
I've spent the last three years meeting people, and spending as much of my 86,400 seconds of the day ensconced in social observation - yet all that I know is that home is where the heart is.
Family doesn't have to be blood related, but it's those people that you can count on to bail you out of jail in a third world country, or call on at ANY hour of the day or night to speak upon a certain issue. Family. (by your own definition) Is. Everything. And on this day, in this very present moment, I am extremely grateful for my own.
I love you mom, dad, and Michael! =)