Bon anniversaire papa!
Today, the 6th of August, is my dad's birthday and I have prepared a special video for this special occasion.
The down side of an expat life is that you don't get to be home as much as you'd like to for all the birthdays and celebrations
and today I wish I could have been in Limoges to celebrate with my family.
People often ask me what my parents think of the fact that I live in a van.
Well, when I told my dad, he asked me many questions, about safety and day-to-day life
and then although he didn't really approve of this life choice, he ended up by saying that raising children is not about inhibiting their personality but steering you in the right direction.
As a dad, he always encouraged us to live for our passions regardless of what society might dictate.
When I was little, for a while I wanted to become a painter when I grow up, and I always felt that my dad was proud of my enthusiasm
whereas I remember how most of my friends were discouraged by their parents to dream of unconventional careers.
I feel that as long as we had a plan and that our projects were driven by our passion
my dad always supported us. He has always encouraged us to dream big
regardless of what society thinks.
I admire him for his intelligence, as he is the most knowledgeable person that I have ever met.
I feel that if I am looking for information about philosophy, geography, history, literature, or even science sometimes,
he will be able to pull out the content of an encyclopedia from the top of his head and give me all the info mation I need and more.
I also admire him for his resilience. As we were growing up he went through tough times sometimes but he never wanted his children to know about these things.
He had a family of 8 to feed and there was always food on the table.
And since I mentioned his resilience, it was also impressive to see him quit smoking after decades of being a heavy smoker.
He used to smoke 30 cigarettes per day and he has now spent over 20 years without a cigarette and I'll have the chance of having him for much longer!
He also taught me to be straight, to be honest, and when I start a project or an activity to be persistent.
When I was little, he never wanted to hear us saying that we were bored.
And if we were, he was pointing out all the infinity of things that we could do, and obviously some of them made a lot of sense while others weren't as exciting, such as cleaning up my bedroom.
But he must have done something right, because as of today I wouldn't be able to remember the last time I was bored, it would have been a VERY long time ago.
And finally, le "pétage de roteuses"! He taught us to be crazy sometimes, and to live fully even if it's not reasonable.
This life lesson is extremely valuable because we all have a more or less structured lifestyle, and we all have responsibilities
but it is our ability to think outside of the box and sometimes to bend the rules that can get us to the most amazing places.
The other day, a friend was telling me that you don't remember the normality in your life, but you remember the crazy things that you do.
In the end of my life, I want to have collected many memories.
It is a fine balance to recognize where, how, when and how often you should do that "pétage de roteuses", but I am lucky enough that I was exposed to it at an early age and I learned to be very skilled at it.
As an adult, I have often had a chance to apply these skills, and most of my best memories were the outcome of some "pétage de roteuses".
A few days ago, someone asked me if there was something I had never told my dad but that I wanted him to know.
And I realized, there is that one thing… But he knows that I feel that way, but I just never said it with words… I'm actually not good at expressing this type of stuff, but I'll give it a go.
Ok, there we go. PAPA,…
YOU SUCK AT BOARD GAMES.
Ah! Better out than in.
Now THIS is not going to come across as a surprise, but although I have prepared a parcel for your birthday, it still hasn't been sent, surprise-surprise!
I'll be sending it tomorrow because today is Sunday, but to give you an idea of the presents waiting for you…
Here they are!
Now there is a little one that is for "maman", I'll show you which one…
So, careful… I wrote her name on it.
And by the way everyone watching! My mom is an amazing person too and I'll have tons of incredible things to say about her, but today was a special dad.
Now since this video is the first one that I do about my family, I also wanted to say a quick word about our dog Rex, he's my sister Christine's dog, and he just died this week.
He was a rescue dog and had a great life with Christine, but he was old and had cancer.
I know that for the people watching it's just the video of an old dog, but he was an oldie but a goodie and I wanted to mention this because I really liked that dog.
I learned from my colleagues at work that apparently in English you say that dogs cross the rainbow bridge to go to paradise, and I found that was very cute so well done on your little English-speaking fantasy!
Now say goodbye to the nice little flat here, I really enjoyed my time here and having a power outlet was a game changer, I got so much things done.
However today is my second last day here and I'll be back in my van on Tuesday for more "VANdventures" and expat tips!
Good news is that my mission housesitting was to water the plants, and this is mission accomplished since they survived … me!
Now BIG CREDITS to those of you guys who I often see here, so Geizon, Larry, Menno, Terry, Ron, Tellabeans, RageMore, Richard, Boondocking Mainah', Marklinman, Campervan Handyman, Tx2Sturgis, Stephen, Trips2gether,…
You guys are always here with your super-nice comments and you can't imagine how much it motivates me.
I love reading you all.
Don't forget to keep spreading the love as always,
and I will see you next week as usual!
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