After 31 months, Scott McLaughlin finally reunited with his family.
Since moving his career to the United States, McLaughlin’s closest supporters, his mother and father, have remained stuck in New Zealand. Covid restrictions the blame.
Communication between parents and son was limited to FaceTime and video chat.
Now, two and a half years later, McLaughlin finally had the opportunity to embrace his mother once again.
“It was weird, I was a little bit nervous to see them,” McLaughlin told the Associated Press. “It was just all this energy and excitement, and I was weirdly nervous.”
McLaughlin’s father, Wayne, noticed something different with his son when he saw him.
“He lost a lot of weight,” Wayne said.
“He was always a pretty fat guy, he’s already been reasonably solid, and I just got a big shock to see him.”
Wayne and Diane, Scott’s mother, are in Indianapolis this week to watch their son compete in the Indy 500.
But, for Diane especially, it has been a sickening shock to witness just how fast her boy is driving at the speedway.
“I was looking for a bucket,” Diane said.
Scott’s sister also recently joined the McLaughlin clan later this week. It is the first time the whole family has been together since 2019, when Scott got married.
Fair to say, it’s been a long time between drinks.
“We didn’t get to say goodbye,” Diane said about Covid keeping the borders closed and Scott out of reach.
“We were heartbroken,” Wayne said.
Tears of grief are now tears of joy.
All it took was 31 months.
