Though I Never Doubted It

[originally posted in August 2014]

The amount of times that my family and I have uncontrollably laughed at Clark W. Griswold’s family’s obstacle-filled road trip in John Hughes’ National Lampoons Vacation is countless. Blown tires, unexpected pit stops, sketchy neighborhoods and hysteria… hilarious.

I never dreamt that our family’s little road trip as we moved my cat, Edward and me to NYC would come close, or dare I say, surpass the Griswold’s adventure to Wally World.

I won’t go into too many details as I’m sure the four of us have gone through the mission enough times in our heads, but I will say that, if nothing else, this trip did prove something: my parents’ undying, unconditional love for me.

Though I never doubted it.

I suppose the journey to get me to NYC began many years ago, well since the moment I was born really. For as long as I can remember (and the countless home video tapes of my life before memory kicked in) my parents have spoiled me rotten with love, hugs, kisses, time, patience, generosity, labour… the list goes on. No matter what I was doing, be it dancing, horse-back-riding, writing, video-making, blogging, working, running, performing in the kitchen… both of my parents have always invested their 100% attention and love towards me and supported me in every single thing I have done. And that is what has made me who I am today. That is what has made me a strong, independent goal-oriented young woman. Those two. They did it. Because all of their actions have provided me with all of the love I have ever needed. Even during times where, looking back, I probably didn’t even deserve the love and support that they gave me, they did it anyways. Time and time again they have given me love and no matter what I did, or how much trouble I may have gotten into or how scared I was about disappointing them at certain times, they continued to love me.

And I never doubted it.

Leading up to this trip their support (both mental and financial) has gotten me to where I am today, in my very favourite city. There are no words to express how thankful I am for everything you have done for me; except to say thank you. Chad shanorhaglium. Sec!

Then there was the road trip and everything leading up to it… Mom, thank you for being so organized and helping make me the organized (albeit sometimes OCD organized) person that I am today. It is with your list-making and priority-making skills that I have been watching for years that has helped make me do the same thing. Thank you for helping me buy and get everything I needed prior to moving. Dad, your creative street smarts have helped me think so well-roundedly especially during this move! Thank you for loading everything out of my room and into the U-Haul! (Also thank you for arranging such sweet and efficient movers to help us out, too! Ara, JP & Just – thank you!) While I’m at it, thank you for hosting the cutest and best surprise party ever! It made me feel like the luckiest girl. You guys never cease to surprise me with your thoughtfulness.

August 25th 2014… Mom, thank you for helping me get Edward into his crate. I know you know how difficult it is for me to do that. Dad, thank you for making sure we were all ready to leave bright and early and for taking on the trip as the head driver. To both of you… thank you for being so cute and well behaved as we were passing the border and as the officers were giving me my student visa. That must have been difficult for you to see your little girl officially being given her documents to leave the country. You did great though! Thank you for never fighting during the drive! You guys aren’t alone in the whole “couples driving each other crazy while driving” situation. There’s some statistic somewhere that says that 92% of all couples argue when in the car. Thanks for working together (alongside the handy GPS) so harmoniously.

Thank you for keeping your cool the first time the car overheated and we had to pull over on the highway close to a ramp somewhere in Syracuse, NY. Thank you for getting AAA to our rescue ASAP. Thank you for reserving a pet-friendly suite for us to stay in when we realized all the mechanics were closed and that we’d have to spend the night in this small little town of Baldwinsville, NY. Thank you for taking us all out to dinner at the cutest little 50s diner, B’Ville Diner and ordering us the most amazing diner meals any of us have ever had so far! Thank you for providing the quarters for the Jukebox so we could play all the songs we wanted. Thank you for walking all the way to the mechanics from there to retrieve my MacBook and Camera (just to be safe.)

Thank you for waking up (and letting me sleep in) so early the next morning to ensure our car was the first to be looked after at the mechanics. Thank you for continuing the drive with a “new and positive outlook” despite the delay.

Thank you for stopping for half an hour along the I-81 thrice as the engine began to overheat again. Thank you for finding another car shop in Marathon, NY (believe it or not, an ever smaller hick town than the first.) Thank you for the numerous calls you made in the office to dozens of mechanics while I comforted Edward in the 90+ degree heat outside. Thank you dad, for driving miles and miles away with Kurt to get a new car to haul the U-Haul the rest of the way. Thank you mom, for playing charades with me for two hours in order to keep me semi-distracted and not panicky while we waited for dad to come back. (I knew what you were doing there.) I have to say, at this point I really didn’t know what to expect from the trip. Were we going to call it a day and fly home? Were we going to give up and sell everything on the truck and fly from this town to NYC? No, you guys were both too strong, too determined and too whole-hearted to give up. Because you love me and you have always done absolutely everything you possibly could to show me that.

And I never doubted it.

Thank you for renting yet another truck to pull us through the rest of the way. Thank you for getting us to NYC safely. Thank you for unloading everything off the truck so efficiently. Thank you for bringing every single one of my items (big and small) up FOUR flights of stairs! Thank you mom, for figuring out the relay system! Thank you both for no matter how long we had been up, or how tired we were, not leaving until the job was done. Thank you for even though it was after 1:00AM putting my desk, bed and dresser together. Thank you for making my bed. Thank you for having such enthusiastic and excited attitudes and smiles the entire time even though we were all so exhausted!!! You two are amazing.

And I never doubted it.

Thank you for bringing me breakfast the next morning. Thank you for making so many precise measurements in order to hang all of my pictures, posters and mirror up on my walls. Thank you for getting my phone set-up. Thank you for getting everything at home depot. Thank you for the dinner.

Thank you for being so cute the next morning and for taking care of the entire situation getting back to Toronto.  In retrospect, I kind of have to thank the car for breaking down in order for us to be distracted enough by it to not have total mental breakdowns when we said “bye for now” outside of my apartment. Thank you for driving back to the U-Haul place, hitching a ride, renting a flatbed and finally returning to Toronto safely by 6:00AM the following day.

I really don’t know how you guys did it. I can only think it was the love you have for me that got you through all of the ups and downs of the entire journey. Like I said at the beginning of this post, since the start of my life you have always shown me undying and unconditional love.

And I never doubted it.

I love you.

Thank you.