I See Their Love More Clearly With Age

Dear Delyara, I used to only notice what my parents didn’t know how to give. Now I notice more of what they tried to give through imperfect hands. My father’s love was practical. My mother’s love was worried. Neither of those forms matched the exact softness I wanted, but they were still forms of love. That doesn’t erase the missing parts. It just makes the whole picture more human. I’m old enough now to see complexity without needing to flatten it into either gratitude or pain. It’s both.