As I wrote about in Marco Pol0 has nothing on me and Too Far , to fast, too many tears, I had the awesome opportunity to travel halfway across the country with one daughter and got to see another one in the process.
When you spend three days in a car with somebody, especially one of your kids, you learn a lot about them. The daughter that drove with me goes to school in Maine and is studying Marine Biology and Small Vessel Operations. How she ended up studying those subject in Maine when our nearest ocean is nearly 2,000 miles away from where she grew up is somewhat of a mystery. Sometimes you just go with the flow, you know?
With seven siblings, she and I don’t get very many opportunities to spend time alone. And even when we do, it’s seldom for protracted periods of time. Let me tell you, 25+ hours in a car packed to the gills was different for us.
Different in a good way though.
We share an odd sense of humor, so we spent a lot of time laughing at things that would have baffled other people. We’ve enjoyed many of the same movies and TV shows, so lots of those references crept into our conversations, not to mention the conversations that were totally SciFi based. He music didn’t kill me, and I managed to ruin her for life with my “exotic” renditions of several of her favorite songs. I’m not sure she’ll ever forgive me for my musical stylings, but what are Dads for if not to mess with their kids heads?
So after all the mileage, what have I learned? She’s a pretty fascinating person in her own right. The future is bright with marine biology, but like the oceans and seas it’s still a bit murky in the distance. Her sense or humor and wit definitely marks her as my daughter. She has an immense sense of adventure. And more than anything else, I really love her.
While my feet are swollen from all the time in the car, my backside has expanded from all the sitting, and if I never have to drive through foggy rainy drizzle again, I’ll be happy…
More than anything else though, I’m really glad we got to make this trip together.
