August 2 is my father’s birthday. He turns 60 today and will be celebrating with my mom and some friends back in Texas with a dinner party at a nice restaurant.
Last night, we spent a few hours eating and chatting with Mike’s family. I didn’t do too bad with communicating. I can understand way better than I can speak. For some reason, the language came much easier to me two years ago. I need to be better at practicing my Italian even when I’m not in Italy!
After everyone left, Mike and I stayed out on their balcony and listened to the waves crash. The air here is different. It’s fresh, light and has no smell to it, unlike the Jersey shore where the air is thick, and there’s a smell that you could recognize from blocks away. I think we Jerseyans have associated this to the ocean smell, and some have come to love it. But I’ve realized that there’s no distinct smell or heaviness to the air in beaches not on the Jersey shore.
I was determined to wake up early today even though we got to bed late last night. At some point, my eyes opened and my gaze fell straight to the clock in the room, anxious that I’d slept through the morning of our first full day of holiday bliss. The clock read 7:45. Okay, not too bad. I closed my eyes and slept some more.
The next time my eyes opened, I felt that I’d slept too long. So I dreadfully looked at the clock again. It said 7:45. Okay, not bad. But wait… I felt much more rested. DOH! Turns out the clock was broken.
It was almost 11 am. Boooo!
How I wish that time could stand still just like it does in the broken clock. I don’t want our vacation to zoom past us. I wish it goes by slowly, and I want to make sure that we savor every moment of it.
I wonder if my father, as he turns 60 today, also wants time to stand still or if he feels that time is going too fast and his life is zooming past him. To me, he will always be 48, strong, tall and handsome even when he’s 90 and gray.
Making it count is what’s important. That goes for this holiday, my dad’s 60 years, and more importantly, our lifetime.
Happy Birthday Pops!
