When My Parents Started to Accept I was My Own Person...

For me, this happened pretty recently. It was a number of days after I'd finally moved into my dorm. My parents were dropping off a few items I'd left at home in the hustle and bustle of packing and leaving. They pulled up in the family car, stepped out, greeted me, and handed me the things I needed. They asked me how things were going, but not in the normal way your parents ask how life is at the dinner table or when you get home from school. They asked in the way you ask someone you haven't seen in weeks. A person separate from your own life; so much so that you can't even venture a guess at what they've been up to.  I'd never made small talk with my parents in that way before. I'd talk that way with aunts and uncles that lived miles away, but with my parents, I never needed to catch them up on what I was eating, who I was with, what classes I was taking, etc. The kinds of things your parents don't know when you no longer live under their roof. It just felt a little funny to me.