The Passing Down of Love

Everybody has different forms of expressing their love, but it never means they love you any less. This was a main essence of the narrative we read this past week, "Arm Wrestling with My Father." When I was reading this essay, I felt very connected to Manning. His relationship with his father is very similar to mine. My dad will fall asleep at my orchestra concerts and when he comes to my track meets he seems to always find  things I can improve on. I placed first in a relay and he told me my start could have been stronger. At the time that made me upset, all I wanted was a simple "Congratulations!" or "I'm so proud of you!" It took me while to understand that was his way of expressing his love and pride. He just wants me to do anything that will make me a stronger and faster runner. I have now learned to admire him for that.  Also similar to Manning, I think that many of us consider what it would be like without our parents. He mentions feeling scared his mom will call one day, and say his father has passed. When I am home alone and my parents are late, I always believe that they have got into a horrific car accident and have died. So I connected to how Manning feels. Everyone should appreciate their parents, because you never know how long they have. As we get older we start to recognize and appreciate our parents love more. We realize that after all the time they spent caring for us, sooner or later it will be our turn to look after them.