Enjoying My Dad's Day... Monday, February 13

Today marked my father’s 70th birthday – no more sweet sixteen and never been kissed. We obviously couldn’t be with him – he’s in Canada and we’re here in Korea – but none the less we definitely made an effort to do something special and enjoy the day even more than a usual day.

We went on a mini driving adventure today; a search for a new private playground and were successful. Halfway down a mountain tucked in the countryside of Cheonan we came across a leveled off area where we could park the car and jump out to play in the grass. By the looks of it – a mini fire pit and dirt bike tracks – we’re not the only one who has found this sweet spot but today we were the only ones there. The plan is to buy some fold-up chairs and store them in the back of the car with a cooler packed of goodies for mini get-aways like today. Spring is but days away, or so it feels like, so I’m definitely looking forward to slipping away here for a midnight campfire with marsh mellows, snackies, and my two best buds by my side.

Pyen Chi – commonly called Pyen Chi Bere these days, Bere as in part of my last name – doesn’t pay catch but she definitely plays fetch and loves playing Hide & Seek. Yes, I’m 31 years old and hide in bushes for fun... hahaha. We used to play Tiger & Lion – me being the tiger and Pyen Chi being the lion – but we stopped playing that game. Pyen Chi hasn’t clued into just how strong she is, how sharp her claws and teeth are and just how heavy she is. I’m only about 10kgs lighter than her now but she’s definitely the dominating lion when we play… yikes.

When we arrived at the mountainside we were completely alone, or so we thought. It wasn’t long until we were then joined by another person – a person flying high above us. As it turns out, there’s a parasailing group that uses one of the neighboring mountains as their take-off location. There were six parasailors out today and one of them had spotted us so he rode the wind over to where we were. He circled around us a couple of time with me jumping in the air and yelling out random things in Korean and English.

It was a nice escape today, a temporary one but none the less a sweet one. I knew it’d be short-lived and that I’d have to return to the city for training and whatnot but I’ll go back there soon.

Stories and talk about my dad were on both the tips of Snickers’ and my tongue today and we ended the day off by giving him – my dad the Birthday Boy – a phone call. We talked about this and that, and I had a good laugh at the fact that he reminded me that he’s my father. “I worry about you” he noted, “You know… that is my job, my job as your father.” Hearing him say that made me give a good giggle. Ever since my mother died this past summer, I view my father in a whole different light, a light that I’ve never seen him or thought of him in before. I miss taking care of him like I did this past summer, making him wake up every morning and eating whatever meal I had slaved over. I still remind him to eat his veggies and always comment about spinach.

Snickers is always sure to jump in on phone conversations with my father and I love it how he always blurts out “I love you Canada father”. Snickers honestly loves my father, you can see it when he talks about my dad.

Saying goodbye to my father on the phone is always a dragged out thing but it’s cute. We both insist on saying goodbye and that we got to go but neither of us really are able to quickly wrap up the whole goodbye parting.

I look forward to the day when it’ll be me, my dad, Snickers and Pyen Chi going on mini adventures, like today.