A Real Dream Come True and a Day That I Will Not Soon Forget
My father and I have always been very close but he has long been busy with work that causes a little bit of separation. To make up for this he and I have watched Formula 1 together since I was 9 so that we can always have something to connect on. In the fall of 2021, he had open heart surgery which really came down to the wire and the best way that we thought of to celebrate is to go to a Grand Prix.
Similarly to so many other things in my life, I am obsessed nearly to a fault with Formula 1, but at least this obsession of mine is due in part by the close relationship between me and my dad and is something that he and I can share. When he recovered from his heart surgery there was one thing that he wanted to do and it was to have the once in a lifetime experience of attending one of the greatest spectacles that a motorsport fan can observe in person. He and I have had this shared passion for the better part of 14 years and is a way that only he and I can connect. Throughout all that time I had never been to a race in person because the logistics alone of travel to these far away localities is a gating item not to mention the astronomical prices, but because of the life changing experience that he had just gone through with his health, he wanted us to have a moment that just he and I could have forever.
So in June of 2022 we made our way across the continent to the former french colony of Quebec to attend the Montreal Grand Prix. I was thrilled not only because my dad was well enough to travel with me and we could have this once in a lifetime moment, but also I am completely obsessed with the history of the sport and the race is held in one of if not my favorite tracks. On top of all of this we were fortunate to have all of the stops pulled out and the above photo is one that I took when we were allowed to go on the track which is something that I would have never thought possible.
This memory is not just representative of a period of time that I enjoyed thoroughly, but is mostly meant to illustrate the relationship that I have with my father and what we went through with his health challenges. He was quite literally on deaths door and not a year later we got to be together and experience something we had talked about doing for as long as I could remember. The reason that the moment is so special is not because I got to go and watch my favorite drivers going 200 mph. It would be meaningless without my dad right there with my and that was what was going through my head the whole time as we almost lost him. It is our relationships that give life meaning.
"You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead"