Like father, like daughter

Is it possible to be TOO much like my father?  I hope not, because I like it.  My mother sometimes says that one day I will “grow up” and like foods that Dad dislikes, and in some ways I have.  I eat olives, have a healthy appreciation of steak... but I still abhor things like seafood and boiled eggs.  Sorry, Mum, but you can’t cure me completely.

In other things, though, it’s strange to think how like my father I am.  He posted on his blog about gyms and CrossFit, and I completely agree.  There are few places  where I am happier than in the outdoors - hiking somewhere remote or up on top of a mountain - and gyms are repulsive.  I have tried them: I signed up once for a 6 month membership; I went for two weeks and never returned.  I tried CrossFit once; I climbed ropes and ran intervals and never returned.  I climbed a mountain once... and since then I’ve barely stopped.

I do however like watching rugby.  Real rugby that is, rugby union, not the lame rugby league they like in this country.  That’s not a real game.  Sorry, Dad, but rugby is awesome!

I was night flying the other night, and the stars were so bright and close, and the Milky Way was vividly clear. I was remembering all the times I’ve walked at night time with my father, arm in arm, gazing at the stars.  Sometimes we talked and sometimes we didn’t, and all was well with the world.  And most of me felt I would keep that memory just for me, but I’ve decided now to share it.  Because, I do think I am like my father.

There is something about climbing a mountain and sitting on the rocks to watch a sunset.

There is something about rising before dawn and climbing in the dark to watch the sun raise its head above the horizon.

Seeing the very first glimmers of light on an early morning.

Getting up early to watch the sun rise over the water, with nobody else around to see.

At my house I wake around 6, most days, if I’m not working, and I think I enjoy those two hours or so the best, the hours before anyone else is awake.  Even C, who wakes relatively early, isn’t up then, and I can sit alone, and do, alone, things that I want to do.

I don’t understand how people can spend their entire mornings in bed: but it actually works out very well for me - as people out of the way are fewer people for me to have to deal with!