Biggest Rock

My entire life, my relationship with my dad has been rocky at best. But during the last year or so we’ve reached a cordial balance. I’m learning to accept him for who he is and let go. He doesn’t always make it easy, but I can’t control how he is, only how I react. It’s better to laugh and shrug things off, try to find common ground instead of focusing on the miles between us.

“Biggest rock I’ve ever seen.” I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard him use those very words to describe the Rock of Gibraltar, what he saw in passing during his stint in the navy over fifty years ago. So, with him in mind, I visited and climbed to the very top. The next time I called home, we had something to talk about. He was surprised to hear about the aggressive monkeys who live near the top and how it’s actually British territory, not Spanish. I can’t say it’s the biggest rock I’ve ever seen, but now I can say it’s a place both father and son have in common.