I'm so excited to go home.
I'm sure after two weeks at home I'll be crying for my LA life, but right now I'm so pumped to go home.
Even now, I hate the idea of leaving, but I miss my friends and family and not having anything to do.
Also, this Christmas break is going to be extra special because I'm going to get to know my dad.
I recently read an article devoted to my aunt's successful career as an NYC litigator, and I learned a lot about her career journey and a few other random things that I never knew--like my great grandfather was an engineer that graduated from MIT. (if you're intrigued, here is the link Susan Millington Campbell--Super Lawyers)
And it got me thinking that I don't know much about my family.  I feel like I know a lot about Lucia and her childhood and life before me and such, but I know nearly nothing about my dad.
I have a few solid things that I know about him, like the fact that he loves the opera scene in Philadelphia (it even makes him cry) and...I literally don't know if I can come up with something else that isn't super generic like he loves Chevy Chase movies and making beer.  So anyways, I don't know much.
And I want to.
I hear stories of fathers giving advice and guiding their kids through life, and I want to extract some of that wisdom from him.  I only remember clearly a few times where my dad gave me advice: when Monica died and when I was considering transferring colleges my sophomore year.
When I came home this last May after Monica died, I hadn't talked to my parents about it at all.  I had sent a Facebook message to them so that they were aware, but told them I didn't want to talk about it or answer any questions.  So we didn't.
But when I came home my dad came into the laundry room when I was putting clothes in the washer and stood there waiting for me to acknowledge him.  I remember him saying 'So you had a difficult semester.  You just gotta keep going.  Stop crying and keep going.  That's life.'
I remember being super pissed like wow dad, how sensitive.  But he was right.  That's life.
And then back when I was a sophomore, I remember we were driving somewhere and talking about what I wanted to do with my life, what my plan was.  I was nervous about telling him that I wanted to make movies, because my sister was in the middle of starving in Nashville trying to be a singer.  I wanted to be the one with the clear, established future.  But alas, I am in love with movies.  So I nervously told him, and immediately followed it with 'but I'm not sure, we'll see.'
But I remember him making a face and saying "Nah, nahh, you want to do the movie stuff, right?  Then that's what you gotta do."
So that's where I am.
So anywho, I'm super excited about this break.  I've already called him and told him all about my plan.  I think he thinks it's kinda presh (in his words of course).
We've already made plans to visit this bar in Philadelphia that he used to go to a lot in college.  I love stuff like that.  I love places that have so many stories.  The lives of my parents are just gold mines for stories...I'm excited to hear them.  Maybe I can re-tell them in a movie someday.
So anyways, that's what I'm chewing on on this Wednesday evening in my apartment in LA.
Now I'm going to continue my script that is so so so so far from being finished (and due Sunday).
Goodnight, friends!