Dad's Here

My Dad got here safe and sound last night, although I was late to the airport to pick him up thanks to the stupid Boston traffic. I should have known really but for some reason I thought a trip down I-93 at 6pm on a week night wouldn't be an issue. I'm an idiot. Anyways, I left a message for him at the airport and eventually I go there to meet him. It was good to see him and he looked and acted just like I expected him to.

We went out for dinner and a beer and had a bit of a chat which was nice. Now my relationship with my parents is a bit odd. The fact that I can live 3000 miles away from them without any problem at all must tell you that. Yeah I miss them now and then, but not like a kid should miss their parents. And when I do see them, I feel awkward around them, like I barely know them anymore. I guess my mind is sub-conciously trying to remember them how they were when I was really young, when we were happy, and not the mess that our family eventually turned into. And my relationship with my Dad is very different to my relationship with my Mum. I worry about my Mum a lot. I feel like I am the parent when I am with her, like I need to make sure she is ok, and constantly worry about how she is going to act or what she is going to do. I sometimes just feel like I want to grab her and shake some sense into her, but I don't. My Mum and I do things like go shopping and the girly stuff. But when we don't do the interlectual stuff, like sightsee or anything because in the past when we have done that she just seems bored. It's sad because those are the things I love doing, taking in the beauty of how something looks, but I feel like she just isn't interested, and thats something that shows just how different her and I are. My Dad is the complete opposite. He loves the interlectual stuff, and some of the conversations my Dad and I have are the most stimulating and interesting conversations I have ever had. We talk about music, politics, history, geography, current events, the list goes on and on. And we will talk for hours. It's when I feel the closest to my Dad. Even when I can tell he is obviously pretty drunk, he still manages to hold a decent conversation. Last night when I picked him up he sat in the car on the way home from the airport and just marvelled at the Boston skyline in the sunset. This is something I do all the time. Just soaking up the amazement of everything around me. He appreciates all that stuff, like I do.

So although I am a lot closer to my Mum than I am my Dad, every time I spend time with him I am reminded about how much we have in common. It makes me realise just what I probably missed out on as a kid, not having him around during the most important years of my life, while I was forming the identity of who I was to become. I don't think I turned out bad in any way, I just wish I had had the chance to have a relationship with him like most daughters do with their Dad. Even after the years we spent apart I am still very much my father's daughter, and I just wonder what I would have been like if he had had more to do with raising me. I guess it's one of those things in life that one shouldn't dwell on, and I try not to.

So this weekend should definitely be fun. I have to work for a bit this morning but then we are going to go for a late lunch and then into Boston this afternoon and walk around the harbour. Then I'm not sure which way round we are going to do the weekend but on one day we are going to spend the day in Boston, and on the other we are going to head to the Cape. Then Monday a trip up to Maine to take in the Allagash Brewery Tour which should be a lot of fun. I have a feeling this weekend is going to go by pretty fast. I hope my Dad has fun here, I know I am definitely glad to have someone around who likes doing the stuff I like doing, it definitely makes me happy he is here.