"Bones, is it normal?" I asked as we rushed through access ways.
"Is what normal?"
"For parents to change?"
"What?" he stopped. So did Jim, I almost ran into him.
"My Da changed." I backpedaled a bit.
"Your Da changed?" Bones asked.
"Yeah. Is that normal?"
"I think he wants to know how he changed," said Jim.
"Oh."
"Jim, I think we had better hurry," my Uncle said.
"Right. Well Ensign, we're waiting."
"Well, we used to go camping each summer before my birthday, and we haven?t done that since he left. He didn't even mention it. It's like I don't even exist now."
"Ah, lassie, calm down a bit. Your father's got a lot on his mind right now," Scotty said.
"I know, but he always used to have time for me, before."
"Well a religious quest can do that to a person. Sometimes they forget everything else in their lives and all they can think about is completing their mission," said Bones.
"So it is normal?"
"When was the last time you saw your father?"
"I was eight winds when he left."
"That would have made you...?" asked Jim.
"Approximately eight Earth years old," said my uncle.
"That was a little more than half your lifetime ago," said Jim lifting me over a low pipe.
The conversation pause while Scotty gave Jim directions to get to where we were going then he headed off in another direction.
"What does the time have to do with it?" I asked finally.
"When you're young you tend to idolize your parents. At least humans tend to, and from what Spock tells me, you were raised mostly by humans. As you grow up you discover they aren't perfect. Some kids, when they get to bee about your age, start thinking that their parents don't know anything they don't. It's all part of growing up, making young people independent."
"So you're saying that this change I perceive in my father could actually be a change in my way of seeing my parents?"
"Part of it. How you see the universe has changed in the past 10 years, Ensign. I think your father still loves you, but you're having trouble deciding if you love him despite what he's done to us."
"I shall have to consider this."