My first solo trip I took with my dad came to a pleasant end. I'm writing this en route to Incheon International Airport. 14 years have passed since I began to live apart from my parents, since I spent that time studying and working. As a result, it's been more than a decade since we've been able to share this kind of one-on-one time all day long. The first two days of the trip were both memorable, and even a bit challenging, for us, since we weren't completely familiar with each other's daily habits and lifestyles.
Reflecting on some of the tension we had early on in Dubrovnik, it seems to me now that the heatwave and our cumulative fatigue from the outrageously (and somewhat terrifyingly) long flights, complete with several cancellations and delays, were the cause of our minor spats upon arrival. Thankfully, these would be soon resolved, and we learned some helpful lessons for coexistence along the way. We swiftly learned not to stroll around the neighborhood from 1 to 5 pm, since the heat was both scorching and more than a little anger-provoking. The weather in Croatia was never totally unpleasant, but could sometimes get unfortunately hot and humid, which, at least for us, could lead to feelings of anger and annoyance.
Looking back on it, I feel that this trip was truly memorable, mainly because I got to learn some more about my dad. My mom believes that it's impossible to ever fully grasp the full depth of and complexity of another person, but maybe we can, as I did during this trip, gain brief glances into it. Even if we can't fully understand one another, we can still learn to respect, appreciate, and grow close to each other. There's a laundry list of adorable and admirable qualities that I came to learn about my dad.
First of all, I found out that he really loves fresh and fruity ice cream flavors, like lemon, watermelon, and melon. We ended up having a gelato every day under the burning sun.
Second, he really values routine in his daily life, and he'll wake up every day at around four to five a.m. just to jot down some of his personal thoughts in his diary. Even better, he loves to share with me what he writes down, which was truly so lovely! In my experience, most people don't really like sharing their personal and private thoughts with others.
Third, it really hit me how much he loves to keep learning, especially when it comes to picking up languages. He has a great passion for learning English, and for life in general. While we were in Croatia, my dad kept telling me that I should continue to practice and learn English even more intensely after coming back to Korea.
Fourth, he's eager to explore the rest of the world with my mom, which was so endearing that it constantly made me smile. Unfortunately, this time around, the exceptionally long flights due to the Russia-Ukraine war deterred my mom from exploring Croatia with us.
Fifth, he loves to say either hello or good morning to any stranger that we come across in the street, which made both me and others smile widely. We all intuitively know that saying hello brightens up most people's days. But we also know that knowing and putting knowledge into practice are completely different. When we happened to come across a random person in the morning at around six or seven, not single person went by without being greeted by my dad and his pure energy. A part of me was almost shocked just by the simple act of witnessing his purely optimistic and positive vibes, even though he's already 67 years old in terms of international age. I often wondered how he was able to maintain that level of purity and positivity, which brought me both awe and surprise. I' m kind of the same way, and just like him, I love to sustain and maintain this kind of happiness and vigor that my dad seems to constantly carry with him.
To be continued
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