The Daughter Filter

My mom has always been that woman who made me dinner and put bandaids on my scratched knees.

My stepdad has always been that guy who surfed through the channels and teased the cat.

But every so often, my parents turn into people I don't know-- strangers. They take on different personalities and become alive.

This phenomenon takes place when they're with their friends. And it's the most interesting thing I've ever witnessed.

Recently, I spent a day with my mom, stepdad and a whole group of their buddies from years and eons ago. And Mom and Mike just came alive. They were, for lack of somethine more poetic to say, human.

Don't get me wrong, I've never thought they were horrible slime creatures from Lake Ray Hubbard. But there were subtle differences in their behavoir that only their kid could notice. They squinted their eyes and laughed with their whole bodies. They reminisced and revealed secrets of their childhoods. They danced and played and drank and made merry.

Actually, they acted like me and my crew.

It's really nice to know that you can still party and carry on when you're older. It really makes me look forward to the years ahead.