I am naïve. I admit it.

I blame my parents. I blame myself.

It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I finally did the math and realized my older brother was born 5 months after my parents wedding. What!?!

How come nobody told me!

We thought you always knew, they said. Of course they would think that. What idiot doesn’t know March is only 5 months after October? Well, one who never thought to ask – that’s who.

My mother asked me if I thought less of her after my startling discovery – which I thought was an odd question coming from a parent. Of course not, I said. You’re my mother. How could I ever think less of you?

If anything, I thought less of myself.

I guess as a child I was raised pretty much out of the loop. I never remember my parents ever including us in any conversations or decisions. Things just happened and we rolled with it … like moving into our first house. I never remember the discussion OF moving or the hype - just that one day my parents went to look at a house and a little while later we moved in. Cool.

To this day I can barely fix anything more complex than a toilet. I think part of the reason is I never remember being a wingman for any of the stuff my father did around the house. Things just magically got fixed or upgraded when we came in from playing. Cool.

Up until recently I just rolled with everything – as I did as a child. Now something has finally kicked in and I’m asking all the questions I should have as a child. I am pushing my self in the loop.

And pulling my kids in with me. I want them to grow up AWARE. It will serve them well as adults.