This question will be different for every one of us. Some of us have strong and close relationships with our parents, some of us have a tumultuous one. Some of us have lost our parents and perhaps some of us have never met our parents.
No matter where you fall in this regard, the relationship between child and parent is an emotionally loaded one. Often, the context surrounding this relationship, time, space, life, death etc can stand in the way of the discourse we actually need to have.
All this said, what question would you like to be able to ask your parents and get a straight answer on?
I'm back home in Michigan. I was born with a cleft pallet (not lip) and it's something we don't often talk about. It's not as if we actively avoid talking about it, but we rarely do. I had several major surgeries as a child, I couldn't speak properly and I had to wear a prosthetic pallet until my final surgery at age 4. -Most of that last sentence are things I just learned tonight from my parents. I asked about the surgery. I asked about who was there caring for me. I asked about how it made them feel.
However, it was just my dad that seemed interested in this conversation. I'll attempt to ask my mother the same question while home and press it a bit more.
Why do I want to know about this? Well, it's a hell of a thing for a child to go through. Still, now as a father myself I realize that it would be a hell of a thing for a parent to go through too. Especially given the fact that my mom was only around 20 years old and my dad 22.
I found out tonight that my parents acted as translators for me to others. My speech was so debilitated by my lack of a pallet that most people could not understand me. Then, around the age of three I got a prosthetic pallet. When my dad told me this, I had a rush of memories. I could literally tasted the metallic piece and could feel what it felt like to wear it. The memory was extremely fresh.
I learned a lot tonight about things I've been unwilling to ask about.
Your turn: