My Parents Are Always With Me by Anastasia Vylegzhanina

Parents are some of the most important people in the world, aren’t they? They’re those individuals whose decisions and actions play an influential role in our everyday lives. You may deny this, or even say you don’t take into account any of your parent’s opinions or suggestions. I’m afraid I couldn’t agree less. We always learn from our parents whether they are nearby or reside in another city, state, or even on another continent.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, our parents constantly teach us just through living their own lives. Perhaps this happens by them sharing their views, critiques, or memories. It might take time to realize that maybe you learned something from your parents, and this time is different for everyone. Before moving to the United States to pursue my education, I’d never thought that my parents’ past behaviors and choices could influence my current views and decisions. In other words, I have been taught many lessons that are highly useful and make me who I am today.

From my early childhood, I vividly remember my beautiful mother who set a real example of women’s strength. She always manages to stay positive no matter the situation. My mother never shows her anxiety to me or anybody else in the family. She always knows how to solve any issue. My mother keeps our family emotionally strong; she is the one whose advice is truly vital as she will always say what you need to hear. It became obvious to me that her calm and confident behaviors were guiding me on the other side of the world. I notice that I act exactly like my mother would act in some particular circumstances. For example, I find myself being strong and confident in situations where my advice or help is needed. During these times, I try to hide my own fears in order to handle the situation with ease.

On the other hand, my father has always been my best friend through all sorts of childhood craziness. So many happy memories come to mind. I realized that he taught me how to always be moving forward through teaching me different sports––swimming, cross-country skiing, and running are the ones I loved doing with my father the most. It would be selfish to declare that I was an excellent student for him. I assure you, there were fountains of tears from me after repeating various practices over and over again. At the time, I did not understand why my dad was pushing me so hard, or why I had to repeat these training activities several times in a row. Only now do I realize the answer to my questions when thousands of miles keep me apart from my father. 

Talking and reminiscing over FaceTime with my dad about all those sports we endured side by side make us not only laugh out loud but also make me sincerely thankful to him for all of my life accomplishments. Through sweat and tears, he taught me how to move forward even when I fail. He taught me that the past should be left behind to seize new opportunities that life brings to our feet. In other words, my father is my personal example to follow in setting goals and achieving them.

In the end, each of us is a learner and a teacher at different periods of time. As children we learn from our family members and relatives. After growing up, it is our turn to teach the lessons. Just remember that parents are the very first teachers in our lives. We cannot pick our parents, but we can help each other to discover our best selves as both parent and child.

 

• family
• lessons from our parents
• memories
• parents