This post is part of my 5th Grade Journal series. Each week in 2016 I share a journal entry written for one of my 5th grade classes, along with any new thoughts and perspectives I may have developed since.
September 9, 1997
What makes my family unique, is that every other week my dad goes to California, for work. This week my dad and mom, are in Alaska. The other day they caught a 13 inch salmon! My mom is coming home late tonight. That’s why my family is a unique family.
My dad would have nothing to wear if it weren’t for family vacations.
Over the years he’s compiled—and kept—so many random pieces of souvenir clothing items you could forgive me for thinking it’s the only thing he owns. Instead of throwing away old t-shirts and hats that he’s owned for 20 years, he’ll keep them in the back of his closet and wear them lounging around the house.
Whether driven by laziness or nostalgia, I have to acknowledge that my dad’s clothing collection is an artifact of how me and my siblings we were raised: To view travel is a way of life.
Growing up we took a lot of meaningful trips together as a family. Whenever a school vacation was approaching, my parents made a point to rally us kids together and go somewhere special. Whether it was skiing in Vermont, lounging on a beach at LBI, or hopping on a plane to tour California, we were lucky enough to get out of our little bubble. Sometimes we put up a fuss, since all we really wanted to do was sit in our underwear and play MarioKart. But looking back we’re obviously glad our parents took the initiative to plant us with the travel bug.
Seeing the world through travel is an obvious theme of this week’s journal entry, but it’s not the only value being expressed. With 18 years of hindsight, I can pick up on a few more subtler themes that were slowly being imprinted into my 10-year worldview.
When I read those five sentences, these are the values I notice:
- Hard work affords opportunity. My dad travelled to California every other week for something like two years straight. He was clearly committed to his job, while not letting it consume him. It also provided the money necessary for mom and dad to be able to travel somewhere far away, like Alaska. This had to have a strong affect on me at that young age, teaching me to value hard work with the right kind of balance. And one excellent way to find balance was to…
- See the world through travel. Alaska? Who goes to Alaska? It seemed strange to me at the time, but now I see the appeal of traveling to a frozen island and ice fishing for two weeks. That’s probably because it’s an indication that we should…
- Value experiences over things. It’s a common refrain these days that the younger generation values spending money on experiences rather than physical objects. But that was something my parents always preached. They didn’t drive the nicest cars, or wear the fanciest clothes (see: my dad’s closet) but they never hesitated to book a family vacation to somewhere new, or return with an ice chest full of fresh Alaskan salmon from their fishing adventures. But even after the best experiences, sometimes…
- It feels good come home. I love how I clearly inserted, “My mom is coming home late tonight” into the entry. It’s obvious we had some level of communication with my parents while they were away, and I clearly missed them and couldn’t wait for them to come home. Adorable, right?
Love of travel, and valuing hard work as a means to living a richer life. It’s fun to see where this all came from.
