When I was out walking last week, I was thinking to myself how all the leaves are now gone. My inner child then said to me: "No, they have WITHERED." That would be the right word. And she knows best!
This reminded me of how it was when I grew up. In my family, knowledge was valued high. My mother was a language teacher and my father an author and journalist. He, of course, was the one who always claimed that he was right about everything. He also belittled me and others regularly. I do recall, one fun memory though. When I was a young teenager, we made a bet about the number of Pi. I said it was 3.14 and he claimed it was 2.14, whereupon we went into the library and looked it up and for once proving me right. I always felt like I was never good enough in his eyes, regardless of if I came home with a good grade on an exam or become a runner-up in a horse-jumping competition.
During the years, I've worked on my self-confidence and worth and rather try to be the opposite of him, in many ways, especially showing more tolerance, humility and compassion. Easiest has it's been to resolve it, simply by discontinue our relationship to a minimum. And instead, becoming my own best parent.
The photo shows an oak-leaf, a common symbol for knowledge in the Northern Hemisphere.