I'm, just, incredibly grateful for my parents.
How my parents and I managed to get along is a long and complex story. Growing up, they couldn't relate to me or my interests to any extent- probably because of the cliched generation gap- and that led to a lot of problems. This situation changed for the better after two unforeseen events. I fell seriously ill twice in my life. The first time it was a simple surgery gone wrong which led to an incredible amount of hassle, and the second time I developed acute stress disorder due to overworking.
These events affected our relations in complex ways. For one, my parents realized how important I am to their lives. At the same time, I saw all of the troubles they had to go through due to my sickness, and that increased my respect and appreciation for them exponentially.
I always liked reading about things like philosophy and science, which my parents had a difficult time to relate with. For a large part of my life, they saw these as distractions from the more 'important' stuff. It's not entirely their fault either, I frequently lost my patience when talking to them about these issues. After the aforementioned increase in mutual respect, however, they not only started to take an interest in what I do, but encouraged my habits by getting me rare, original books that I couldn't afford.
Long story short, I've been tremendously benefited from their support in what I do, and I like to think I've in turn made them proud by my achievements in school and otherwise, by growing up to be a mature, cultured individual with varied interests.
This may sound super weird, but standing where I am now, I feel incredibly grateful for my past illnesses. Without those episodes, I doubt my family would have as much shared love and respect as it now does. And this environment has contributed greatly to me being who I am today.
