I've always been a proponent of the saying: It's not about the destination, it's about the journey. In my journey of life one of my most important values has been friendship. As a result, my fondest memories are shared with those closest to me. The first things that come to mind when I think about my journey are the those memories - maybe the time Students' Council stayed very late after school to finish up dance decorations and we had McDonald's for "dinner" or the various hardships the Alpha-UBC squad has gone through in their first year of university. Whatever the case, I'm glad that I got to experience said moments, collecting them as part of "the journey".
While it may seem like I'm going completely off topic, I will say that I have always thought I would do a better job of parenting than my parents. When it comes time to ask them for documentation I need for whatever thing I'm doing, it takes them a bit to dig through their drawers for it. There are also things that I believe they do "wrong", such as washing dishes (they don't pre-rinse dishes) or cooking (I like preparing all my ingredients before actually starting to get things sizzling).
Only recently have I realized my sheer naivety.
I neglect to factor the disorganized state my room is in - I am only able to pull out my personal documents purely because I have fewer things to keep track of. I'm sure that if I don't improve my organization skills I would be much worse than my parents at getting documents for any children of mine.
In regard to our opposing methods of dish washing and cooking - they are not intrinsic parts of parenting. Parenting does not entail "pre-rinsing dishes" or "preparing ingredients beforehand", and I was foolish to mix parenting and basic human habits. I view my parents as parents (naturally), and I do not see them in the same way that I would a friend.
My explanation is pretty confusing, so hopefully the following sentence will help convey the message. Just because my friend does not pre-rinse dishes does not mean he/she would be a bad parent.
My parents are just people, and like everybody else they have their own habits and quirks. They have done an amazing job of raising my brother and I (or at least I'd like to think so), and this mini "epiphany" of mine has helped me realize some other things. They also have their own struggles with parenting, but the thing is: they continually improve themselves and it is a process - it is a journey. My dad did not instinctively know how to fix up a house - he had to learn and lean on others for support. The same goes for my mother; feeding and managing a family of four are skills that she developed and did not learn in an instant.
And once more I am going to go off topic only to desperately tie it back with the main message!
I've been employed at my current workplace for nearly a year now, and if I look back to when I first started working I can confidently say that a lot of things have changed, most of them for the better. As all the staff adapted to working here, we found better and more efficient ways of doing things. However all these better methods were obviously not present when we first opened the store. In retrospect I could say, "This current practice of doing this thing is better, why didn't we do this at opening?" but that would be ignorant of me. Our management would not build a store and think, "This is by far not our best way to do this thing, but we're gonna do it anyways." It is difficult to start anything perfectly, and opening a store is no exception. Obviously we tried our best, but we have also worked hard to improve.
And that is all I have for today. I hope you can take away at least something from the mess I have written. Until next time!
This post was refreshing to write, as I actively thought about what you, the reader, would think. I had yet another realization that my writing has just been me barfing my thoughts out onto a screen, and when talking about relatively complex topics such as the ones covered today, it may be difficult to follow along. You and I think differently and we have different experience. Perhaps my examples did not resonate as strongly with you because you have not seen such things firsthand. I tried editing my writing so my thoughts would be more clear, but if there's anything I've learned by now, it's that everything's a process ;)
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