I've noticed that a lot of my university friends get extremely agitated when talking to their parents over the phone. I can understand that sometimes parents aren't the easiest people to talk to, that they can seem over-doting, incapable of understanding your plights, or can be just out right irritating. But the fact of the matter is that they're your parents and despite how they may act or what they say (or yell), they really have your best interests in mind and they just want what's best for you. After all, if you were stuck raising another human being for 18 years, you'd want to see them happy, succeeding and in good health... right? And if someone you've put so much time, effort, money and love into decides to yell at, scream at, hate on you, or deny your existence, you'd probably feel pretty crushed, no?

Now I'm not a model daughter or anything, I can get just as irritated at my unreasonable parents sometimes... but I try to be good and I try to please mom and dad as best as I can. Being away from them has given me a new appreciation for everything that they do for me and I'm not about to let their sacrifices go to waste. I know they care about me, and in return I want to show care to them too. Step one is to not be snarky towards my mum over the phone... no matter how much she badgers me about my less-than-satisfactory grades.