on the subject of… calling the parents

We go see a movie and afterwards Andrew calls his parents to tell them how it was. Andrew coaches a junior rugby team every Sunday and that afternoon his parents call him to ask how it went. We play on our co-ed flag football team on Tuesday nights and later that night Andrew is on the phone telling them play-by-play how our game went.

Andrew talks to his parents just about everyday. I, on other hand, talk to my parents about once a week. Sometimes once every two weeks if we forget. It doesn’t mean I love my parents any less. We just don’t feel the need to talk to each other all the time.

Andrew insists that’s not normal. He doesn’t understand how I don’t talk to my parents as often as he does. Let me clarify here in case it wasn’t clear– our parents don’t live near us. My parents are back in Michigan and his parents are currently touring the U.S.A. in their motorhome (and blogging about it here). Phone calls and some emails here and there are how we keep in touch. Andrew and his parents are just more frequent at it than my parents and I are.

Andrew’s theory is that my family and I just aren’t as emotional. “Your mom and you never cry,” he asserts. “Whereas my mother cries all the time,” he says. It’s true, my mother in law cries in romantic films, during sad commercials, or when she’s saying good bye to her boys at the airport. “We’re just more emotional, so we need to talk to each other all the time.”

He has a point. My mother didn’t even cry at our wedding. But I don’t think I have ever seen her cry, so it doesn’t surprise me. “So what you’re saying,” I begin, “is your family needs that emotional support of talking to each other everyday and my family doesn’t because we are made of stone?” I ask accusingly.

“Yes!” Andrew laughs. “I mean no…” he corrects himself.

How often do you call your parents?