Dad went on many trips when I was little. Why did Dad have to go?
"Work stuff, honey. These are important meetings that I have to attend if I want the company to run better," he would say to me.
Dad's company is always on the road. Dad has made many trips throughout his life. Once he had to go to Russia for four days to look at some equipment. When he came back, he told us how cold that country was and the snow storms that formed in just an instant. Then I understood why Russians always had such red noses.
The trip to Algeria is the one Dad remembers most because it was "the first trip he made after signing the contract." There he went, together with one of the most veterans in the company, to set up the entire electrical network for a hospital. Dad's memory of that place is still very much alive inside him. Sometimes, he remembers it with his colleague over coffee after dinner.
Another trip Dad made was to Cuba. We were separated for more than 7,000 km for seven days and we were only able to speak on the phone a couple of times. That week I had to make a huge effort to try to do my homework on my own and do it well. I always did it myself, but Dad corrected it for me. Luckily, that week I only had a few lapses in solving two math problems.

After Cuba, Dad went to Germany. This time it was for more than fifteen days because he had to go to take a course on some new materials that the company was going to start selling. Germany was also a very cold country, but at least we were able to communicate better.
That was the last trip Dad made, since he decided, of his own free will, not to make any more trips for a long period of time. I was grateful for that, because the afternoons when Dad didn't come home after a day of work because he was traveling were hard for me.
Dad is an important piece in the puzzle of my life and, when he was gone, he was greatly missed.