For much of life, we experience our parents through the role they play.
Mother.
Father.
Provider.
Protector.
Teacher.
Guide.
As children, it is easy to believe our parents simply exist as parents.
Only later do we begin to see another layer.
We begin to see the person behind the role.
A person with dreams, fears, uncertainties, hopes and struggles.
A person who was once young.
A person who was learning life for the first time as well.
This shift has changed the way I see my parents.
Not because they changed.
Because my perspective changed.
The older I become, the easier it is to appreciate that parenting did not come with a manual.
Like everyone else, they were navigating life with the understanding available to them at the time.
Perhaps maturity is not only seeing our parents more clearly.
Perhaps it is seeing their humanity more clearly.