a few weeks ago, i went up to midway to clean with my dad. although cleaning didn't sound very fun to do on a lazy sunday, i am so grateful for the chance that i got to spend some quality time with my dad. the way up & down were filled with good chats. on the way home, we were talking about europe (it takes up about 90% of my thoughts these days)... and i was telling him stories and we were talking about other things that i hope to see there in my lifetime. one thing that i want to see so badly (liz & michael know how obsessed i am with it) is the neuschwanstein castle. while talking about future trips and plans.... my dad then tells me that he has been to the neuschwanstein castle in germany and all of these amazing other places.
i knew that he had been to some places around europe while he was my age- because he went backpacking for a few weeks while he was in college, and he also served his mission in belgium- but i can't believe that i had never really talked to him about all of his adventures and everything. and to be honest, i felt really bad that i had never taken the time to talk to him about it... and here i am blabbing on and on for days, weeks, months, about my journey i just had. and then i thought about how sad i will fill if when i'm older and my children don't even know that i went somewhere and they didn't take the time to hear about my stories.
so we spent the next 30 minutes talking about his experiences and his funny stories. and i loved every minute of it. he told me how him and 4 other friends left for europe during the summer, without making any plans for where to stay or anything. they went london, scotland, belgium, france, germany, and a few other places. they each brought a sleeping bag and were just planning on finding odd places to sleep (haha sounds SO sketchy). by luck, they were able to stay with some friends in a few places and they found places to stay haha. when getting to belgium, they stayed with one of the families my dad had been friends with on his mission-- and while they were there they told the family that they were planning on sleeping in their sleeping bags and just finding places to sleep-- well the mother ended up giving them a tent and for the rest of the trip they stayed at CAMPGROUNDS all around europe. haha. my dad also told me that after hearing a lot of my stories, he was reminded about all of the countless hours they would stay up talking and laughing. the sad part about his backpacking experience is that only one of the friends had a camera, and he doesn't have any pictures from the trip. i did find a few pictures from his mission that i love. now since being to belgium myself, and have tried these frites & seen some of the things that he talked about for years... it makes these pictures even more special.
so with all of this being said, i would like to wish my dad a happy happy father's day.
i love you and am so grateful for everything you have done for me. and here is to many more chats like the one we had a few weeks ago.
2 comments:
this is exactly how i felt when i read my grandpa's war diary! i kept thinking, what if i never read this and never knew his stories? it's so much fun to find these things out about the people you love!
um......I loved this. made my throat tight :). I love bradley and to think of how COOL that chat must have been sharing experiences and learning all about the things he has done, is amazing. I bet he loved every minute of it just like you did. Thanks for sharing some daughter-father love for those of us who don't have it half way across the world. I love you!
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