There's No Place Just Like This Place...

“There’s no place just like this place, anywhere near this place, so this must be the place.”- author unknown

I went to visit my parent’s for the 4th of July and as I was walking toward their front door, this quote was thumbtacked on it, written on a yellow index card in my dad’s all caps military friendly handwriting.

I loved it. I loved it because he loved it. I loved it because he thought so much of it that he thought to put it on his door. I loved that “this place” for him was my childhood home. I loved that for the first time in my life, I felt so connected to him. You see, my office area, my home, my world is filled with inspirational quotes on canvases, in pictures, on rocks that have inspiring words etched on them. I have pictures that speak to my heart all around me and this quote, this quote spoke to my dad. The backstory is my father is a man of few words. He listens well and when he doesn’t want to listen well, he’ll turn up the volume on the tv with the remote that never leaves his side. My dad is a hardworking man and he has been all his life. When he was a little boy of 5 years old growing up in Corpus Christi, he’d walk with his brother and sister not much older than him, to the docks where the ships of sailors would come in during the war and shine shoes for a nickel. He joined the air force after high school. He and my mom married young so he wanted a way to provide a stable income for her. As young as I can remember, dad always had more than 1 job. He’d repair tv’s at home, work on cars, all in addition to his job at the base. 

When we were kids, every six weeks that our report cards would come out, dad would make a trip down to the trophy store and get my brother and I “outstanding student” trophies. He quietly encouraged us to do well. Since he was so busy, I don’t remember being able to spend a lot of time with him but I knew we were loved because he was always making sure we had what we needed, he always renovated the house to make it more comfortable or to update it. As I got older and could drive, during the winter, he would go outside and warm up my car for me so it wasn’t too cold when I got inside. As a kid though, I only seemed to see the things that bothered me, like maybe when he drank a little too much or when he seemed really grouchy because he was exhausted. I would dwell on the moments of his anger rather than remember the memories of all he did to make us feel loved. As I said, dad is a man of few words, for most of my adult life until last year, I had never heard him say “I love you”. You can bet when those words came out of his mouth, I held onto them like the treasure they are with everything I have. They remain forever etched in my heart and if I close my eyes and listen, I can still hear him say them and I think I always will. 

Most of my life, I longed to see how I was similar to my dad. Truth be told, for years I believed I was adopted. Maybe because of my older siblings teasing me that I was, but mostly because I never felt quite like I fit in. I was the contemplative kid who would rather get lost in a book or sketch outside than play video games. I was always pondering and writing. I lived life among my family like I was watching a screenplay unfold before my eyes. Things weren’t always easy but, I did my best to understand and give others grace as I grew older and could figure out more. I realized that I gained gifts in my personality from both my parents and I discarded what wasn’t fruitful. But, as I walked up to their door and saw that little yellow card, it was as if a part of my heart that had been missing for so long, found its way home. And, as the piece of my heart that was missing for so long fell into place, it sounded as if it said, “there’s no place just like this place, anywhere near this place, so this must be the place.” and indeed it was.