Daddy Ray

I once in a while think of Tracy's father whom I met in my first summer in Berea.

Due to the college rules, for my summer holiday, though I stayed on campus and worked full time, I needed to take 2 weeks vacation.

I originally planned to stayed in the dorm and study.

Thanks for the invitation of Tracy, (both of us worked in Boone Tavern) I could go home with her and spent the vacation together, and also shared her father and aunt's love!

Tracy was from West Virgina, it took about 2 hours' drive to reach her home place.

Tracy and Daddy Ray lived in a mobile van and the van was parked in the hill side, very far away from the populated area- my unique experience to learn that people own a van and can travel many places.

She is from a single parent family, her father loves her a lot, and always gave all the best things to her.

Daddy Ray worked in the US army, when he was young, he was sent to Asia - including Japan and Vietnam, therefore he had lots of memories.

When Daddy Ray knew that Tracy brought me home, he was also very happy to meet an international student from Hong Kong - well, as usual, not many people knew Macau, they just knew Hong Kong.

The first week, Daddy Ray needed to go to work ( he was a cook in the army), we didn't see him most of the time, but he left us money to spend the week ( I appreciated his kind offer as I also knew that they were very tight on money).

We had TV dinner, we went out to do budget shopping, we went out to do the laundry, she also took me to libraries, supermarkets, shops selling second-hand clothes. We drew, we read,... it was quite relax and enjoyable time. She considered me as her elder sister.

The second week, Daddy Ray took us to see Tracy's aunt in Ohio - I just remembered the drive was very long, but Columbia is a big city. He also offered a nice lunch to us in a restaurant. It took about 8 hours to reach there. As the drive was long, Tracy could not visit her aunt very often.

Tracy's uncle and aunt were very nice people, and they treated me very nice too, like to her niece. They had a beautiful house, and they cooked delicious meals. During the week, they also took me to the church, to meet people and their neighbours, it was so wonderful! I still remember the nice ice-cream we had in that sunny afternoon.

I was lucky that I could feel and share Tracy's father love - even though I was alone in the States!