What expectations do your parents have for you?

@SW-User Do you think they were bad parents?

@PurpleHearts They were just kids when they had me. They just didn't know better. At the time when they didn't know much about life, they became parents. Not that I can blame anyone else for it, but I can't blame them either. I grew up away from them. It's all good now, it's all sorted out. No more harsh feelings, but sometimes I like to bring it up to laugh about it.

@SW-User Humor is good, but I suspect that it still hurts. Good job for trying and not being bitter.

@PurpleHearts It will forever, but letting go is the best way to deal with it. I still show up at thanksgiving and Christmas whenever I can, and help them even if they don't ask for it. I have Pacific Island and Native American blood in me. In my culture, we don't hold grudges against our own. We live in the modernized world and practice whichever tradition we are brought up with, but some of us are rooted to our age old thinking when it comes to family. It keeps things balanced.

@SW-User Did you try to look into Native American spirituality and get your animal spirit, camping alone in the woods for 3 days and things of that nature?

@PurpleHearts I have done quite a few traditional things with Natives, Samoans, Maoris and people of other pacific tribes. I was brought up in the modernized world in California, so not much of interaction with my tribes there except for a few years of my late teens when I wanted to visit my extended family. I'm living in Australia for a while now. It has given me more opportunities to explore things about my ancestors around the Pacific.

@SW-User Interesting