Today’s “Dear Mom and Dad” comes from my mother, someone who guest posts here often and champions me and my writing even if she sometimes doesn’t agree with what I want to do. but she’s had a pretty incredible life, as you’ll see from her letter.
Dear Mom and Dad—
Thanks for making me an Army brat. Thanks for taking us to live in far flung countries on the edge of the Iron Curtain, and making sure that we saw all the places we could see, even if it was from the back of a tiny Volkswagen. Thanks for showing us the cats in the Roman Coliseum – I hear they are gone now – and for taking us to the Sistine Chapel. Thanks for letting us chase pigeons on the Piazza in Venice and pick wildflowers in the Alps.
Thanks for making every move an adventure, stopping to see the sights along the way. That 6 week odyssey from Georgia to Korea (via Florida, New Jersey, Los Angeles, Seattle, and everywhere in between) was more than memorable. It gave us a huge appreciation for this great country, its highways and byways.
And thanks for taking us to the Far East, and letting us, as teens,wander around the crowded markets of Seoul. Thanks for taking us to DMZ; I can honestly say I have been to North Korea, even if it was just walking around the negotiation table, which literally straddled the border and had a line painted across it.
This only touches briefly on all you took us to see and do, but your legacy lives on. All your kids travel—some of us a lot—and most of the grandkids, too. None of us thinks twice about getting on a plane or train or bus and going—just going. You taught us that there is an adventure around every corner, and we all eagerly look for it.
More important than the places we went, we learned we could go anywhere and do anything. We learned to make friends and to say goodbye to friends. We learned how to pack and unpack. We learned that home is where we live, even if it isn’t the same place as last year. In short, we learned to be self-sufficient independent adults, and we pass that on to our children.
Thanks, Mom and Dad!
Love,
Your Army Brat kids
Would you like to be featured here? Have something you want to tell someone? Email all submissions to sarah@paperinkandpassports.com. Letters will be published as I receive them.