Over the past two weeks, I’ve been busy spending time with my parents who are visiting over the holidays. From the three hour round-trip pickup at Oakland Airport during rush hour traffic to the 4:45am drop off in order for my mother to catch a 6am flight to see her friends in between visits, I’ve put more time on the road than I have in a while!
I’m thankful for all the time spent because my parent’s visit helps fulfill one constant goal: to see them at least four times a year. As I wrote in my book, a large reason why I decided to retire from Corporate America is to spend more time with them and less time in the office. I very much want to play golf with my father before his spine ossifies. I’d like to absorb as much of my mother’s teachings while she still has the energy. One of the most fun things to ask our parents is where they were in life and what were their thoughts when they were your age. It’s scary how quickly time passes.
When I was contacted on behalf of BMW to sponsor this post, I immediately obliged given their video captures the essence of the holidays. Furthermore, I am a BMW fan and multiple past owner. I can easily spend an hour at the BMW dealer checking out the latest vehicles and inhaling the new car smell with dad. Oh, and their year-end holiday parties are a blast with music, all you can drink wine, and sushi.
I’m happy with Moose, my 13 year old truck with 120,000 miles. However, if he ever decides to go to car heaven (had to replace his alternator earlier this year and other things are in need of fixing), a certified pre-owned X3 is at the top of my list. It’s hard to fit anything larger in my narrow SF garage. Anybody else out there own or owned a BMW? I’d love to know how many miles you have on your car and whether you have a target mileage goal. Enjoy the video!
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Safe driving,
Sam
It’s great that you were able to spend some time with your parents over the holidays, Sam. You’re right – that’s what it’s all about! I like the idea of asking our parents what they were doing at our age. I bet many Yakezie members are fans of BMW, too. I’d personally take a ActiveHybrid 3 any day!
It’s a great and fun question to ask. Everybody should do it. Happy holidays!
I loved our old ’98 BMW Z3. It’s gone to car heaven though. :(
It’s great that you were able to see your parents. My parents came to visit from Thailand and my mom is staying with us for a while. They are getting older and I want our kid to spend a lot of time with them. I had to drive to Seattle to pick them up, but it was worth it.
That must have been a fun car to drive Joe! Awesome your parents get to spend time with your kid. Cherish these moments!
agreed indeed on the road home. curious however – and maybe i misread or misinterpreted, but when you were working full time, you were not able to see your parents at least 4 times a year? or is it that you did or could have but the duration of the trips would have been shorter (and now that you are out of the 9-5 you can make each visit last longer?)
Hi Sunil,
It’s because my parents live a 5.5 hour flight away, so around 7.5-8 hours of travel time to see them. It was hard to do when I was working more than three times a year b/c of so many vacation days a year. Can’t spend every holiday I had with them as I wanted to see new parts of the world. Now, it’s definitely much easier, and awesome to continue working thanks to the internet.
Where are your parents located and how often do you see them?
Sam
mine are 3.5 hrs flight away. I visit them every couple months. i also fly them in (as well as siblings) a few times every year
I like the smallest version of the X5. I think it’s the X1 or maybe it’s just X3, I forget. They’re expensive though! I don’t have any plans to buy a car anytime soon, but if I were I’d definitely want a small economy car being in the city. Parking is tough here and I always chuckle a bit when I see out of towners driving these giant pickup trucks and other huge cars. I like the cars in Europe because pretty much everyone drives a small car so you don’t have to fear getting run over by a giant vehicle.
One of my very few regrets was not documenting some of my family history with my parents. There are old pictures, I have no idea who they were. I am now learning some of it through some cousins, but it is not the same. In the early 80s, I owned a BMW 318i, it was a little underpowered, but a real kick to drive. I had a colleague at work who owned a Porsche 911 and a BMW 3.0 CSI . The Porsche won first place at the Concours D’ Elegance and Dr. Porsche (circa mid 1970s) gave the award. The BMW was his daily transportation. It was a beautiful classic car. in silver just like the Porsche.
I regret about not documenting more as well. I asked my parents for a camera, but I think we were too poor to get one for me. It’s much easier to document stuff now with all this technology. People are luckier in this aspect nowadays!
Glad to know you are able to spend quality time with your parent’s Sam! Family is very important to me also. My Father put together a family genealogy that traced our roots back to France in the 1750’s and shared it with us at a Family Reunion several years ago. He spent years traveling to New England, Quebec and finally France collecting records mostly in basements of very old Churches. It was fascinating to learn of the journey my ancestors took to arrive in America but the stories about their daily lives are what I enjoy the most. Unfortunately if they are not written down they are lost forever and that is why my Father is working with a writer to finally publish the Family history.
Fantastic Paul! I’ve always wanted to do a genealogy as well. How cool is that?
The next several generations will be completely spoiled by how easy it is to see their history. HNY!
Personally, the only German car for me is the classic Beetle. I know a lot about my family’s history (on side has been in the New World for 14 generations and came to England before that as part of William the Conqueror’s invading army), but my father’s mother’s family is kind of a black hole. She was a 1st generation American that grew up in a culture of “total assimilation” Until the day she died, she always insisted that her ethnicity was “American”