Jeff and I took the boat from St. Pete down to Sarasota for Thanksgiving....Jeff left Monday to take it down, I drove down with someone else Wednesday and Jeff had to leave Friday for work so my Dad came down Sunday to help me bring the boat back. It's about a 4 - 5 hour trip, depending on the weather and tides. I have a trawler so she's not a "go fast" boat. I can't explain how healing it was. The water and boats are one of the few things that I have really happy memories about with him. I told myself that I wouldn't bring up any 'issues' because I just miss him so much and wanted to spend some time with him without any controversy. However, I can tell that he's changed, somewhat, his stance on Straight and rehab in general. There were a few things he said that weren't directly an apology, but it was obvious that he has re-thought what he did and why.
I got the boat out of the slip in Sarasota on the first try and into the slip back in St. Pete on the first try....wasn't real pretty, but I did it!! When Dad was leaving we hugged and I started crying (happy cry) and he said, "Honey, this is beginning.....not a one time thing". I cried for about 5 minutes after he left out of sheer validation and the feeling of reconnection. If my dad can come around, there's hope for pretty much everyone's parents.
Between the last couple of weeks with the film crew and now this with Dad, I've been on a two week high.
Just wanted to "share" (god, I hate that word but it fits here).