COLUMN: The story of two girls | Columnists

You may remember a story from three years ago describing a 22-day trip across the country with my eldest daughter, Kirsti, after graduating from the University of Vermont.

We crossed the country from New York to Dallas to Northern California, with his gigs along the way.

Twenty-two days on the road – and we literally pissed off for maybe 30 minutes in total!

Three years later, it was Sarah’s turn to graduate from UVM and organize a graduation trip.

But the idea of ​​a 22 day road trip for her is torture – I think with anyone – including me.

She hates road trips. Has always.

As a child, she would ask if we were “almost there” literally 1,000 feet from home.

For her trip, she wanted air travel and a “tropical” location.

I searched around and first suggested beaches in some southern US, mostly out of fear of COVID travel outside the country.

She fought back with Costa Rica.

We landed in Nassau in the Bahamas.

And it turns out we were able to include another local dad-grad combo, Bob and Hannah Bishop, to the itinerary. I’ve been friends with Bob since the girls played lacrosse together ten years ago and we once had a blast together on a father-daughter cruise.

So on May 16, we all got up at 2:30 a.m., got on a plane around 6 a.m., and were in the Bahamas around noon.

We booked an Airbnb on the water, which we were told a few days later by our taxi driver that the Beatles stayed there when they filmed “Help” in Nassau in 1965. (Maybe that explains the photos of the Beatles on the shelf!)

It was a glorious place, but you could tell it had an even more glorious past, with huge multi-level outdoor seating areas overlooking the aquamarine ocean and another area off the concrete pool.

We did a bit of sightseeing, but honestly, we mostly floated in the water, caught a few rays, hung by the pool – and repeated.

We dined out and visited local markets and hotspots like the “Fish Fry” area, where the girls sang karaoke and we ate conch (pronounced “conk” Bob) in a variety of ways. I love seafood, but I agree with Bob when he said he would never eat the chewy, monster dweller again.

We went to the Baha Mar Casino on the last night for a great meal, cool live music and a little game which saw almost everyone win a little something.

It was very different from Kirsti’s 22-day trip with eight-hour driving days and endless dash conversations, but there were tons of father-daughter bonding moments on this trip.

We floated with cocktails on tubes and rafts along the coast, looking at well-kept multimillion-dollar homes and wondering why some were run down and abandoned. We were floating the other way and gawking at the Sandals resort guests who were parked with these white buoys and ropes, as they gawked at us.

There was also the 40-minute team effort to crack open a recently fallen coconut with essentially kitchen knives. Sarah immortalized it in a TikTok video.

We had movie night – twice – stretched out in the spacious living room, a sweet way to end days in the sun.

But an epic moment for me on this trip had nothing to do with surfing, conch or karaoke.

This is when Sarah signed and sent the paperwork to start her communications career with Tata Harper, an international skincare company based in Shelburne, Vermont.

When she pressed send, she beamed — and Hannah, unbeknownst to Sarah, captured her on video. I was so proud and took pictures with my phone.

Since the trip across the country with Kirsti, she has moved to Spain, where she uses her minor in Spanish to teach English and gives a few concerts on the side. She also travels – a lot – and really sounds like all that life has to offer. He is more of a free spirit with a need for adventure and unconcerned with labels and societal norms. She is also returning this summer to get married!

Sarah, on the other hand, was tossing around resumes for weeks before graduation and had career options.

She told me that months ago she started doing daily “protests”, basically convincing herself of how things would turn out after graduation.

And that is what is happening.

She has since started this work and is so excited to attend meetings where internationally renowned magazines like vogue are discussed regularly and they provide samples for him to try.

While “Shallow” was kind of a travel song for the trip with Kirsti (it was hot back then, don’t judge!), Sarah and I came up with a cool reggae/rap track called “I’m Still in Love with You” found on a tropical mix channel on Spotify. We both saved it now.

So I go back to my point about two kids – two girls – coming from the same background and being so totally different.