Here's that nostalgia again...

I have lived here for 16 years and it happens every Spring: Nostalgia hits me once again. Whenever the possibility of Summer presents itself and especially when Mike has a day off, I travel back in time. In my head it's a Saturday, dad is off and consequently it's 'beach day'. We used to wake up between 6 and 7 am, my mom and dad would have made breakfast which always seemed to be cheese sandwiches and chocolate milk, or  cheese sandwich and juice. (My dad used to make the best orange and papaya juices. Freshly squeezed. We all knew what we had to do before leaving the house: clean our rooms, help the parents get the rest of the house organized and off we went to the beach. Even when I just went with my friends, this is the ritual on Saturday mornings.

To this day I still cannot clean the house without some music blasting on the computer or my iPod. My dad still does the same thing..I miss those days, they were good. My childhood and early teenage years, were really good. That's not to say that life in general hasn't been because it's been better than I ever expected and for that I'm very grateful. But, on days like these I miss my home, what used to be home back in my old country. I miss that everyday is summer, that the sun shines and burns you badly and that no matter how hard you try to not to, you do end up with a tan.

As my dad is faced with the advent of immigrating to this country, and fighting it to the death(it seems like), I can totally understand why he doesn't want to come. I accept that he doesn't want to come here. I could see how for him it means leaving all those memories, the life and legacy that he has created behind. It's a lot easier coming when you are younger and have no clue what life is and what you are going to do about it. But when you are retiring, it must feel like now you get to sit and watch the fruits ripen on the trees you've worked so hard to grow and flourish. Leaving those trees behind, must be torturous and painful. I get you daddy, and I'm there for you.