I Couldn’t Say No to Grandma & Grandpa
I am 30 years old and haven’t lived at home for more than 2 weeks since I was 21, but still, I have a really difficult time saying no to my parents.
My parents are rebellious by nature. I’m sure they wouldn’t use that word to describe themselves, but uprooting your life to move to a new, foreign country, with the mustard seed faith and hope that everything will work out as it should, is an act of rebellion. I know because I’ve done the same thing, though in the opposite direction, moving my American raised adult self and unborn child to Kenya, my husband’s homeland. Having the courage to do something that life-altering is 100% an act of rebellion.
But besides piercing my nose, getting a tattoo, and visiting my then-boyfriend/now-husband in a foreign country, I’ve almost always done whatever my parents asked or expected of me, out of what I think is a healthy mix of fear, love, respect, and admiration.
Like many families in 2020, we didn’t see much of each other, mostly due to the cross-continental move but also due to the pandemic. So when they visited us in Kenya for the holidays and my son’s first birthday, my parents were really excited to shower their grandson with a year’s worth of love and affection.
It all started with a casual FaceTime conversation before the trip when I mentioned to my mom…
