[Evans, Marv]

My parents never changed. Part of their true beliefs were that "children were to be seen and not heard" and "do as I say, not as I do". My father died 12 years ago and my mother is over 80. To the end, my father was detached, uncommunicative and uncaring. My mother caught it from him, I guess, and is still that way. We (kids) were never able to say anything of any substance to them. I was really bothered about this until my mid thirties/early forties. At that time, I realized and accepted that kids can't pick parents and visa versa. I also realized that parents are only people, and they have their strong points and their weak points, like everybody else. So after I accepted that, decided I was never going to get (and shouldn't expect) them to be something they weren't and was getting along with my life, I felt much better. I never expected anything from them, went on with my happy life and was much better off. Parents are just people and those who have good, caring people for parents are very lucky.