Dad's Reflections

As Erin’s father, I am writing this article as a follow up to one I started a couple of months ago but never sent in for her to post. In March Marlene and I were privileged as Erin’s parents to visit Brazil and see the place and the people with whom our daughter Erin has spent the last year. It has been a wonderful year for her – filled with new places, people, ideas and passions. From a distance we have read of her exploits and on Skype we have been able to see her, hear her or chat with her. By the time she returns home this summer she will have turned 21 and in some official way become an adult. With her brother in Germany as a foreign exchange student this year – it has been a year of change for our family – our kids venturing out to new places and we as parents learning a new chapter in our own as empty nesters.

Our time in Brazil was a great experience. We saw Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paolo, some of the surrounding countryside and some of the beaches. We learned much about Brazil – a rapidly growing economy that looks like a world leader in many ways – and a developing nation with much left to work out in others. We saw more motorcycles on the roads than we’ve seen in other places. We saw lots of efficient cars and lots of luxury cars. And Sao Paolo must be one of the capitals of the world for high-rise buildings. There are tall buildings everywhere! And Rio was beautiful and fun and we enjoyed a tour of the city, beaches, food and bossa nova music.

A few weeks after we returned to the United States, we heard of floods in Rio. The areas where poor people live, called “favelas,” had been washed away in some places. Many homes were destroyed and many lives were lost. These areas are places where people build their homes on poor quality land, often with beautiful views, but literally stacked one house on top of another (sometimes seven stories high!). When the rains came, the poor quality of the ground meant buildings collapsed and lives were lost. Had we not just toured these communities we would have hardly noticed the story on the news. But since we had just seen these places and met some of the people there, the story of the floods took on a new image and significance for us. It is a good reminder of how traveling opens our eyes and our minds to whole experiences and ways of life that we might otherwise miss.

Another piece that was important for us was that this was a time and place where we visited our daughter on her turf. She knew the place, the people and the language. She was the knowledgeable one. We were the guests and she was the guide. It was nice to see what a capable woman our daughter is becoming and to see her talk to people in a language she didn’t speak just a year ago – and to do it well.

Erin is leaving Brazil this week. She won’t be coming home to us but is heading off to Oslo for another adventure as part of the Nobel Peace Prize forums in Norway. More new places, people and stories. It will still be a few weeks before we see our daughter but it is nice to know she is growing up with her eyes and ears and heart open to new people and experiences. It is a different world than the one we grew up in just a generation ago and she and others are preparing to lead it – and I think they are going to be ready to do it well.