Road Trip

"I truly think you've lost your mind," I said as he walked in.
I do not have the patience to go through this again.
Dad you're well past sixty, it's time to turn the page.
You're not a young man anymore, you need to act your age."

Dad simply smiled and said to me, "I'm sticking with my plan
to take a trip cross-country in my trusty Chevy van.
When your mother passed away, I came to live with you,
But, Son, you do not have the right to tell me what to do.

You see, I've reconnected with someone I once knew.
I had a crush on Mary Anne when I was twenty-two.
Back then I was so bashful and filled with such self-doubt
I never had the courage to call and ask her out.

Last month I was on Facebook and found her profile there;
She's prettier than ever with silver in her hair.
We spent a lot of time this month, just talking on the phone.
Her husband died three years ago and she is all alone.

I've promised her a visit, though she lives far away,
and Son, you cannot stop me, no matter what you say.
When we both were younger, you were my biggest fan,
but now you treat me as a child instead of like a man"

That very night I took Dad's keys and hid them out of sight,
and though it made him angry, I knew that I was right.
But he was not dissuaded and much to my dismay,
One day he found the hidden keys and simply drove away.

I found a note he left me, taped to the kitchen wall;
it said, "Don't try to find me, tomorrow night I'll call."
And call he did most every night at stops along the way,
to recount the adventures, he had from day to day.

It's been two years and recently, Dad married Mary Anne.
He often jokes about the trip I tried my best to ban.
"Son, I know I worried you, but what else could I do?
Perhaps when you are older, you'll see my point of view.

Time is short and precious; the years too quickly fly;
sometimes a man must take a chance or love will pass him by.
To live a life that's safe but dull is merely to survive;
A man needs hope and freedom to truly feel alive."