The Trip of a Lifetime

After my mother passed away in 2007, my father stayed for a while with my brother and his wife in Eastern Washington. My brother had driven down to California in his car, then drove my father north in his car.

It did not take long before my father was ready to go home. He wanted to be in his familiar territory. I flew down to Seattle from Vancouver, took the bus from the airport to King Street Station in Seattle, and then took the train to Ephrata. I was to drive my father back to Petaluma, pick up my brother’s car, and drive back north.

While I looked forward to the trip, I knew that it marked the end of a time that would never come again. I was given the opportunity of being alone with my father for a good eighteen hours as we drove. I had hoped to take notes of what we talked about, but I didn’t. I had hoped to get insight into my father’s life, but I didn't. Instead, it was just a pleasurable trip with lots of small talk about this and that. The only thing of significance I recall is that my father thought that his Uncle Cornelius was gassed during World War I.

My father had XM radio in his car. He graciously allowed me to listen to the ‘60s on 6 much of the time. When he tired of that and wanted to hear his Classic Country channel, he was pleasantly surprised to know that I knew almost as much about that music as I did about the ‘60s music. I was even telling him things about the country music that he did not know – giving us another connection. My father was to live another 14 and a half months after that trip.

During the train trip from Seattle to Ephrata I took some video on Fay’s digital camera. I wish the resolution was a bit better, but it somehow makes the video seem dream-like.

It is hard to believe that the trip was almost five years ago. This video is a monument of times long past – fleeting moments that will never come again.