and an old one rekindled...

lemme give you some back story about my dad.

he was born in kingston jamaica in 1950. his mother died when he was very young and his father got remarried to a german woman. in 1963 his father died and his stepmother moved them back to germany...trier, specifically. while in trier he went to high school on a nearby us army base at bitburg. he was allowed to go to an american school not only because he didn't speak german but because in 50s in jamaica you had to choose between british and american citizenship...his mother was an american and therefore so was he...after graduation my dad was drafted into the vietnam war. his stepmother wrote a letter saying that he has never lived in the us and therefore will not fight. he didn't fight but was forced to give up his american citizenship. in 1971 he moved to montreal to go to university and the rest as they say is history...

flash ahead to 2005...my dad has made his way across the country and is now nearly 55...it's been over 30 since he was in high school...37 i believe...

three weeks ago he was checking some online banking stuff and came across one of those find your long lost classmates websites...he found bitburg high, registered and heard nothing.

then this morning he gets a message from a very old friend saying that his sister recognized my dad's name on the website. so my dad emailed this paul guy, told him to look at his business website and some small details of the past 37 years and at 3:15pm this afternoon the phone at work rings, i answer and pass it off to my dad and lo and behold it's paul...

so i sat for the next 20 minutes and listened to my dad, more excited then i had heard him sound in months, reminisce about old girlfriends, friends lost in vietnam (thank god he didn't go...) and the present. it was so exciting.

it's those moments ladies and gentlemen that you realise not only did your parents have a life before you and that it was probably pretty rad but; that life and love and relationships and friends are pretty fuckin' rad and that we should hang on to those times because when we get that call in 37 years there'd better be something to talk about...

'night

xo alice