From My Dad

In middle school/high school, when everyone else was getting their hair braided in Mexico and ordering drinks on the resort tab in the Bahamas, my family was roadtripping westward, rafting along the Rogue River, camping under the northern CA stars, and attending Shakespeare festivals in the mountains of Ashland, Oregon. I resented my family for this abrupt disturbance on all things Cool Teenager and complained endlessly before leaving... begging my parents to just let me be Normal. But upon arrival to the scent of the pines and the freshness of air, my heart settled into the rhythm of simplicity so naturally offered by this part of the country. I didn't want to admit I was Wrong (cardinal rule of all things 13) but sitting around the campfire at night after a day of romping around the woods with my brothers was exactly where I wanted to be; I couldn't picture my summer anywhere else.

 

What I couldn't see then was that my dad was giving me a gift: unveiling God's mystery in the beauty of nature, discovering Him amidst Creation in a way that only the ocean & forest can do. To be back in the place that first opened my eyes to the wonder of God causes a re-discovery of what I have always known. God is with me. There's nothing else that sheds my blinders and grips my attention to that truth like nature. It's the thing that led me to the Camino and to residing on a houseboat along the Willamette.

It's not Home, but it feels like it.

On Father's Day today, I couldn't be with my dad in Chicago, but I celebrated him with a hike on the Pacific Crest Trail. There's perhaps no better way to honor him than stepping into the natural beauty of this state that he taught me to love. All things coffee, fine wine, cycling, nature, writing, photo, & film I inherited from my dad and have come to understand make me who I am. The process of Becoming is incomplete without appreciating each of these qualities with deep gratitude from who they come from... Thank you, dad.