Honour Thy Father

My Dad lives in a townhouse complex where, every year, they have a communal garage sale. I offered to come down and lend a hand, bringing a few of my own things to sell. I took the train late Friday afternoon from Toronto to Kitchener. Normally, it costs $27 to travel about 100 kms but with a $10 off coupon from work, it only cost me $17. Dad was there waiting for me. Whenever we're at the Kitchener train station together, I always think back to April 1984, when I joined the military. My Dad took me to the station so I could catch the train to CFB Trenton, where we were going to catch a military flight down east for my basic training.

Anyway, my Dad got on board the train with me, obstensibly to help me with my bags but I knew he just wanted to hang around and delay saying goodbye. I was sitting with 3 guys who were also new recruits and we were all nervously optimistic about our upcoming adventure. Eventually the train started moving and my Dad was still on board. As the train started pulling out of the station, he hugged me goodbye one last time and then went looking for one of the train officials so he could get off the train. We felt the train stop and as I looked out the window, I could see my Dad, standing there at the side of the tracks, waving goodbye to the train. That's just the kind of guy my Dad is ...

MY DAD'S FAVOURITE SWEATSHIRT














WHAT THE SWEATSHIRT REALLY SAYS














MY DAD














BTW, that hat he's wearing is made in Mexico. He bought it in Dallas, Texas during one of his visits to see my brother. Another funny Mexican-related thing happened during the garage sale. Two couples came to look at our stuff and I noticed they were speaking Spanish to one another so I asked them, in Spanish, where they were from. They answered Veracruz and then the conversation flowed, in Spanish and English (for my Dad's benefit). I learned that they had only been in Canada for one year and were there to eventually work on the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. BTW, they absolutely LOVE Canada and the husband, Mario, told me he felt it was much better for them than going to the U.S.A.

Try to spend some time with your father this upcoming weekend.