I am my parents’ number one fan. They have made me who I am today. They both have worked extremely hard to get where they are today and I admire them so much for that. My dad is starting the Poncha Pub, and my mom is becoming a surgical technician (the people who hand the doctors their tools). I have so many amazing memories with them. 

When I was eight, I went to Hawaii with my mom, my dad, my uncle and my cousin, and we spent all day every day at the beach. One day, we went to a different beach and we wanted to surf the waves. We took our boogie boards so that we could give surfing a try and when a wave crashed on the beach, our dads pushed us off into the wave to try to surf it. Their plan definitely didn’t work so we were doing tons of front flips in the water. I had sand everywhere. My cousin and I came out of the water bawling so hard, and my mom yelled at us so lovingly all because we shouldn’t have listened to them. 

My dad and I would always go camping together. We almost always went to our favorite place- Cutty’s Resort. It had an indoor pool, an outdoor pool, an arcade, a little playground that looked like a tiny town, a mini golf course, karaoke and a bingo game where you would get a chocolate bar if you won. Honestly, it was less like camping and more of an outdoor hotel. 

My mom and I went to Florida, and we did so many fun things, like going to a swamp on a boat that had a huge fan on the back. Our tour guide was feeding the alligators marshmallows and hot dogs. We also went deep-sea fishing. It wasn’t my favorite thing we did, but I liked the experience. 

All these experiences have helped me connect with and understand my parents better. These trips were fun ways for me to spend time with them, and I hope we continue to connect when we travel in the future.