Like Father, Like Son?
My Pappy Livin’ His Best Life.
If you missed the episode, click below to listen.
Wow. Did my Dad show up or what?!?
I couldn’t have asked for any better way to kick off the new one-hour format of This Show Is All About You. As I expected he would, my dad brought his “A” game to an experience that was all new to him, and he proved to be a natural. As well as he and I know one another, we both learned new things about each other in that conversation, and I know he shared things aloud publicly that he really hasn’t before. I could tell it felt good for him to do so, and he also admitted that he had a lot of fun.
So did I. I hope you connected with the conversation as well. Just a few retrospective thoughts that came to me after the episode:
I wish more pastors in more places said what my dad said in more public forums more often. The world needs to pick up much more of what he’s putting down.
When my dad talked about those things - his hatred of racism and of his rejection of “Christian Nationalism” - the fire in his eyes and the conviction in his voice reminded me of this fantastic scene in Gladiator, with my dad as Maximus and racist and Christian nationalist a-holes as Commodus. Except Dad wouldn’t kill him - he’d let the truth do it.
I’ve said it before this episode and believe it even more after it - if more Christians (hell - if more people period) around the world lived, breathed, loved, and connected with others like my dad does, the world would be at peace and, honestly, we’d have cities on Mars by now.
Finally, a quick story we couldn’t get to by the end of the show:
My Dad and I love road trips. Since I was little, he rarely passed up a chance to take the whole family somewhere by car, teaching us to enjoy the journey as much as we did the destination. When we lived in Hawaii, it was camping / lava fountain watching trips to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; when we moved to southern California, it was road trips up to Lake Chelan in Washington State or to the Bay Area to visit family. They were always fun, even if my sister and I tended to torture each other at various points along the way, leading my mom and dad to consider leaving us on the side of the road somewhere. They never did, thankfully.
Anyways, when I left for college and in all the years since, my dad and I have continued taking trips together when and where we could, but unlike our family road trips, something happened when we started doing them just the two of us:
We turned into Planning Morons. We didn’t do Road Trips - we did what we now call “Stupid Road Trips.” Ones where we should have seen the glaring flaws in elements of our planning but didn’t until we were well on our way and couldn’t do anything but see it through. And it’s happened over and over again. An example, you ask? Well, here are just two of many:
Before my sophomore year of college: “Hey, it’s hot as hell in Central California, so to avoid that let’s drive ALL NIGHT from Orange County aaaaalll the way up to Humboldt County (a 15-hour drive on a good day). When we get there, we will move you into your dorm, get you all the crap you forgot at the store, and then dad can drive another five hours back down to his brother’s in in the Bay Area while JD gets his room set up. That’ll mean about 24 to 30 hours of no sleep to do all that. Sure, that’s a GREAT IDEA!”
It wasn’t. We were exhausted by 2am, somewhere near Visalia; we hit two roadblocks on Highway 101 delaying us for a couple of hours; it took way longer to get me unpacked than we planned; then, dad ran into those same roadblocks again on his drive to his brother’s. Oh yeah - he had to drive the rest of the way back to SoCal the next day.
I’m telling you - Stupid Road Trip.
Over 25 years go by, but still haven’t learned our lesson: “Hey, your sister / daughter in Colorado needs a couple of family heirloom furniture pieces brought to her, and your grandson / nephew wants to adopt our pet tortoise, so how about we rent a U-Haul truck that can carry five times the amount of stuff that we actually have and drive it NONSTOP from Seattle to Fort Collins? If our math is right based on the Kenning search we did on Google Maps, we can do that drive in 15 hours or so not including stops. That’s not STUPID like that time we drove all night to Humboldt, right? Ha, remember how stupid we were then? Man, we sure did learn our lesson, DIDN’T we?!?!?”
No, we didn’t. We both forgot to factor in that the U-Haul truck would have a speed governor on it, limiting us to only 55 mph the entiiiiiiirrrreee way. 15 hours became closer to 24, which meant it ended up being almost exactly like the Stupid Humboldt Trip. We ended up driving all day and all night and got to my sister’s just before dawn of the next day. All to deliver a freaking turtle. Sorry - tortoise.
Once again - Stupid Road Trip.
And, I’m sad to say, there are even more examples of those, but you get the gist. But if you think that will stop me and Dad from doing more road trips, you are mistaken. But I will be sure to inform you all of just how Stupid those turn out to be, too.
Thanks for reading this follow-up blog post, and for listening to the episode. Please be sure to share both with your friends and family.
And be sure to check out my Dad’s book and movie recommendations, as well as information on his suggested travel destination. If you want to try out those Parmesan crisps that we got so excited about, be sure to check out Joyfull Bakery - and send us (and them) a review! If you want my Mom’s Kick-Ass Indian Curry recipe, click the Contact button below and ask me nicely for it, and then promise you will always give her credit for it and never claim credit for yourself or your own mom. And don’t lie, because if you do then God will know, and he will tell Dad. They are tight, y’all.
And then, my Dad will tell you it’s okay - because God loves you just as you are (you liar).
Okay, I added that last part myself. He’s kinder than me.
Love you, Dad. Thanks for ALL of it.
