Oh, Canada.

  I as a parent try to make a good life for my family. I haven't been eating truffles or caviar, but we do well with what we have. Besides, I never developed a taste for the finer things.
   I guess I inherited my frugalness from my parents. I save a little each month after I pay my bills, always thinking of the future; While remember the past.
   Back, when I was six years old, my dad and mom wanted to go on a trip that they could remember for a lifetime. Mom didn't want to go on a long car ride. So dad planned one of those trips that would call for planes, trains and automobiles. He also threw in a boat at the last minute.
   We left the house early one morning bound for the Yakima airport. We parked the car there and took a plane ride to Seattle. I can remember the wing and how blue the sky was, it was breath taking. I don't fly much. Never felt the need, but when I do I make the most of it; I sit back and try to take it in.
   When we got to Sea-Tac, we took a cab to the Seattle docks and caught a ferry to Vitoria, British Columbia. I can remember my mother getting sick. Even through the motion of the boat didn't seem to bother anyone else.
   We enjoyed 5 days in Victoria. The Wax museum, was what I remember the most, although the Butchart Gardens was something else. I think mom like that best.
   We came back on the ferry and took a train from Seattle to Yakima. Back then the train went through Stampede Pass. The views were spectacular the ride was rickety, but come on, it was a train ride every boy dreams about. Today, my son is the same way, crazy about trains.
   When got back to Yakima really struck. Dad held a secret, he had no more money. No cab fare, no money for food and no one to call. Dad left us at the train station and walked to the airport. It must have killed him. It is around 7 miles from the train station to the airport and he did it without complaint. So I guess this is my point. We as parent do things for our kids that they may never understood. It might be as easy as giving them a Happy Meal and sharing a fountain drink with ourselves or as difficult as letting a car be repossessed so that we can afford mortgage. We do it because we love our kids and nothing else is important.
   Did I understand why my dad left us at the train station, no not at the time. But when I did understand it taught me that you do things for your family even if it means walking a crossed a city in the middle of the afternoon on a summers day.