Introduction .

When you first start dating someone whose company you truly enjoy and with whom you really enjoy spending time with, one of the largest worries is often what your parents will think. At the base level, will they approve? Will they support you in your decisions? Will they open your hearts as wide and as often as you have to this person? Will they welcome them into your family and your home as another soul to enjoy and spend time with? Will they see them in the same light that you do, in all their wonder, sparkling against the night sky? Or will they be cold, unaccepting and distant?


As children grow older it becomes less and less of a responsibility for a parent to approve of their decisions. They gain more independence and thus must have the responsibility themselves to make their own decisions and live with whatever consequences, good and bad, may come with those decisions. Relationships only caps the tip of the iceberg in this regard, but it's a place to start.

I'm thrilled to say that I think my current significant other has been very well-received and welcomed into my home. Being invited to do things like decorate our Christmas tree (something that has been strictly a family-only affair for as long as I can remember) and come share the holidays with us is something that really shows leaps and bounds with them.

I never would have expected such a wonderful thing to happen. When I ask opinions of my parents, I ask for honest opinions, even if they may be that much more difficult to hear. And yet, I my decisions have been affirmed with the responses I've heard from my parents. And that, friends, is a wonderful thing.