I posted this on Facebook last year on Father's Day, and I thought today would be a good time to post it on here and share it again. We all have memories with our dads; this is one of my favorite.
This Father’s Day I want to take just a few minutes of your time. All I ask is for you to think back and recall one memory with your father. Whether it was playing catch in the front yard or him helping you with home work, go tell him thank you and that you appreciate him being there for you. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a dad.
For me, this one memory has to be my trip to New York City with him. We went during the summer of 2008, a month or so before his 40th birthday. It was the last season of old Yankee Stadium, and being the sports fans we are, we wanted to see a game before it was torn down. In what was basically a bucket list trip, we took a whirlwind tour of the city. We walked down Broadway and Wall St., ate at the ESPN Zone, went to the top of the Empire State Building at night, toured Monument Park at Yankee Stadium, sat through an hour or two long rain delay, and finally saw a Yankee game.
The game seemed to be the climax of the trip…until we attempted getting home. Like many commuters in NYC, my dad and I used the subway system. Unfortunately, it takes a rocket scientist to figure out which stop to get off at because we got off at the wrong one, setting off a series of interesting events.
As soon as we got off the subway, we knew something was wrong because nothing looked familiar. It got even worse when we got above ground and realized we were in a rough looking part of Queens, after dark nonetheless. We thought we lucked out when we saw several taxis at a nearby gas station, but that soon turned out to be false hopes. Apparently, when taxi drivers reach the end of their shift, they fill up the gas tank and do NOT give rides to people, no matter how much you beg. Furthering our problem was the fact that my dad’s cell phone was dead and mine was barely hanging on to life. We were barely able to call my mom and get the address to our hotel (which we didn’t have since the subway station put us right by it, making the address pointless to know). After getting the address, we started walking.
At some point during the walk, we had to cross a bridge…a very dimly lit bridge. Halfway over the bridge, we saw a couple of guys getting into a fight. My dad looked down at me and very calmly asked, “You wanna run?” To which I quickly replied, “Yes, please!” Sprinting across that bridge has to be the scariest, funniest moment of my life. Once on the other side, my dad slouched over and put his hands on his knees from exhaustion. Obviously, the adrenaline was pumping and I joked with his saying, “Come on old man! I’m ready to go again!”
Finally, we found a taxi driver that would take us to our hotel and we made it back alive around midnight. The next morning, my dad was a little sore from the run, but other than that, we were completely fine and were able to just joke about the whole situation. Looking back on it, I know that it is something I’ll always remember, even after my dad is gone. We all have these moments and memories with our dads, but we don’t usually thank them. So thank you dad, I love you and truly appreciate everything you do for me and our family. I couldn’t ask for a better dad than you!
This Father’s Day I want to take just a few minutes of your time. All I ask is for you to think back and recall one memory with your father. Whether it was playing catch in the front yard or him helping you with home work, go tell him thank you and that you appreciate him being there for you. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a dad.
For me, this one memory has to be my trip to New York City with him. We went during the summer of 2008, a month or so before his 40th birthday. It was the last season of old Yankee Stadium, and being the sports fans we are, we wanted to see a game before it was torn down. In what was basically a bucket list trip, we took a whirlwind tour of the city. We walked down Broadway and Wall St., ate at the ESPN Zone, went to the top of the Empire State Building at night, toured Monument Park at Yankee Stadium, sat through an hour or two long rain delay, and finally saw a Yankee game.
The game seemed to be the climax of the trip…until we attempted getting home. Like many commuters in NYC, my dad and I used the subway system. Unfortunately, it takes a rocket scientist to figure out which stop to get off at because we got off at the wrong one, setting off a series of interesting events.
As soon as we got off the subway, we knew something was wrong because nothing looked familiar. It got even worse when we got above ground and realized we were in a rough looking part of Queens, after dark nonetheless. We thought we lucked out when we saw several taxis at a nearby gas station, but that soon turned out to be false hopes. Apparently, when taxi drivers reach the end of their shift, they fill up the gas tank and do NOT give rides to people, no matter how much you beg. Furthering our problem was the fact that my dad’s cell phone was dead and mine was barely hanging on to life. We were barely able to call my mom and get the address to our hotel (which we didn’t have since the subway station put us right by it, making the address pointless to know). After getting the address, we started walking.
At some point during the walk, we had to cross a bridge…a very dimly lit bridge. Halfway over the bridge, we saw a couple of guys getting into a fight. My dad looked down at me and very calmly asked, “You wanna run?” To which I quickly replied, “Yes, please!” Sprinting across that bridge has to be the scariest, funniest moment of my life. Once on the other side, my dad slouched over and put his hands on his knees from exhaustion. Obviously, the adrenaline was pumping and I joked with his saying, “Come on old man! I’m ready to go again!”
Finally, we found a taxi driver that would take us to our hotel and we made it back alive around midnight. The next morning, my dad was a little sore from the run, but other than that, we were completely fine and were able to just joke about the whole situation. Looking back on it, I know that it is something I’ll always remember, even after my dad is gone. We all have these moments and memories with our dads, but we don’t usually thank them. So thank you dad, I love you and truly appreciate everything you do for me and our family. I couldn’t ask for a better dad than you!
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