This is so true. We do have a hard time seeing our parents as whole people. We are surprised and disappointed by their human frailty and maybe even afraid of it. It is kind of frightening as a child to see your parents cry. We can’t imagine them as children until we are much older. We are impatient with their foibles until we learn to understand our own and begin to forgive ourselves for them that we can forgive our parents theirs.
I am still learning my parents and I miss them for not being able to now ask the questions I failed to earlier. Their immigration is amazing to me in its courage and gutsiness. I am grateful for their wisdom in seeing that they could establish a really good life for their growing family in Canada.