My mom was married to my dad for 25. After 25 years of marriage, and after 2 years of retirement, my dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. My dad went on a few trips, one to Mexico and one to Europe, but he went alone, without my mom. Several years after my dad died, my mom remarried. He was a nice man, and they were good together, but he was pretty set in his ways. For many years they traveled between West Virginia, Florida, and New Mexico.
For about 15 years, my mom and her second husband enjoyed each other’s company. After his passing, she revealed to my son that she always had a desire to travel and see different parts of the country. My son asked where was one place she would like to see and she responded with, Mt. Rushmore. When my son told me about the conversation, I did what any child should do, I planned a trip to one of the most inspiring monuments in the U.S., Mt. Rushmore.
Like my previous post states my favorite mode of travel is the car so, we took a road trip. My mom flew up to Colorado and we hit the road. It’s a pretty short drive from the Denver area to Mt. Rushmore. We stayed in a great VRBO, spent a snowy day at the monument and headed home. On the way home, we stopped at the hot springs and the weather warmed up enough to take a dip in a nice swimming hole. My mom couldn’t stop doting and expressing how much she loved the trip. I was glad to have taken her.
The trip was so much more than showing my mom Mt Rushmore. While planning the trip and while we were on the road, I realized what the trip was really about. It was about fulfilling a wish of my mom’s, something I never did when I was young. It was also about spending precious time on the road, talking and hearing stories about her life. It also made me realize that I needed to take more time for trips like this because as much as anyone hates to say it, time is short and when my time is up, I want to look back on these adventures and have no regrets for not doing what I didn’t do.
