yellowstone with my father!

As grateful as I am for my solitude, I am forever thankful I got to share this journey with my dad. I could fill this post with a bunch of platitudes: life's too short, you don't realize what you have 'til it's gone, someday all we'll have is our memories, blah, blah blah. Spoken so many times by the disingenuous, the words almost sound hallow and insincere.

Our time together was layered with love, laughter, embarrassment, stupidity and deep bonding. Whether it was swigging brandy out of the bottle in a paper bag (we did that all the time), mooning a whole family (I swear it was by accident), or dad telling random people he was a hitchhiker, I will cherish this time with my father forever.

 

No matter the age, I think deep down we all seek our parents' approval. My eyes filled with tears as I overheard my normally non-communicative father (a.k.a. Mountain Man) brag to a group of strangers at the B&B:

"my daughter is livin' the dream. She made this happen all by herself, through a lot of hard work."

We didn't come from money. Mom and dad worked hard to put food on the table and a roof over our heads. Sometimes pancakes for dinner as that's all we could afford. We never got hand outs, and learned at an early age if we wanted anything, well then we better get to work. Christmas and your birthday, those are the only times we would get presents. At age 7, I had a very lucrative lemonade stand (built by my father), followed by a stint as my brother's paper route assistant at age 8. That apprenticeship ultimately led to my own paper route empire at age 10 (three streets!). By the time I turned 15, working papers were signed and I had had my very first real job at a record store. I'll never forget the day I got my first paycheck. The feeling was intoxicating. Thank you Mom & Dad. Whether or not they knew it at the time, they instilled life's greatest lesson: work hard and never take anything for granted. Thank you. I wouldn't be "livin' the dream" if it wasn't for you. 

 

This was actually taken on the majestic Chief Joseph Byway, via Bear Tooth Highway, en route to Yellowstone!