Ghostwriter
My childhood was not traditional. The only “vacation” we took was camping in the area. Thankfully, we lived near some National Parks and we all enjoyed the outdoors. We had never been on a airplane. We road a train once for 60 miles, so we could have the experience. I didn’t feel “cheated” and still I really wanted to see the ocean.
So I saved my money and for my 25th birthday I planned a vacation to take my parents to the ocean. They had lived in Oregon and had been there many times when they were first married. But this was my dream. I wanted to fly, but my parents refused, so it was a car trip.
We got about 5 miles away from the ocean and my father pulled over the car. He began to explain that this was one of my lifelong dreams and it can only happen once. Once you see it, it’s over. That dream will be gone. I don’t know why the lecture started or what his intention was, but I blew up.
“I invited you. You wouldn’t fly. You had to stop and give me a lecture. You know how we always sing in the car. Well here we go. As I got out of the car and started walking home (thousands of miles) I was singing this song at the top of my lungs.
I could hear my Mom saying, She is not coming back.”
Well kind of like the old Paul Harvey show. You will have to let me know if you want to hear the rest of the story.
