Hal ElrodCreator of The Miracle Morning, Personal & Professional Success Coach

Do This With Your Parents Before It’s Too Late

29 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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1:09

In this reflective monologue, the speaker shares a deeply personal story about his father, who battled cancer, later developed dementia, and passed away in 2020. The narrator emphasizes the concept of a "relational bucket list"—the idea that meaningful experiences shared with parents matter more than merely planning them. He recounts surprising his father with a trip to South Africa, attending the Global Citizen Festival, driving from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, riding rescued elephants, and visiting Robben Island. A pivotal moment was gifting his father Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom, which the father cherished, reread, and later regifted. The speaker underscores that the most valuable achievement was not just the idea of the trip but actually doing it, highlighting the importance of taking concrete action to create lasting memories with loved ones.

Chapters

Relationships are all about experiences. I talk at the end of the book about the relational bucket list. My dad, who's the love of my life to date, I'll be lucky if I find another love in this life. Wow. That approximates the love I have for my father. Wow. He passed away in 2020. He was diagnosed with dementia. He had been fighting cancer. I brought him to the first Global Citizen Festival. Soon thereafter, he was diagnosed with dementia. And I said, Dad, I'll take you anywhere in the world you want to go. And he was way too humble to ask for anything, so I just had to surprise him. So I flew him to South Africa and spent the 10 best days of my life driving him from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean, riding rescued elephants under the African skies. We went to Nelson Mandela's, you know, went to Robben Island. Most prized possession I have on the planet is Long Walk to Freedom, Nelson Mandela's book. He took this book that I gifted him for Christmas after I took him to South Africa and he read it and reread it as a, a way to hold on to our connection and to this moment that we had together. Wow. And then he regifted it to me the following Christmas. And I share that to say I've done many things in my life. One of the things I'm most proud of to date is the decision to actually do that trip, not just to think about it, but to do it.