- Emily Farrell and her dad, Mark, have always shared a special bond
- Growing up, Emily, a recent graduate of Syracuse University, remembers her dad as her number one supporter, always there to listen through every transition of her life
- So, when Emily recently landed her first job in New York City, it wasn’t surprising to her when her dad offered to help her practice her commute to work
- Throughout the practice commute, Emily took videos on her phone to look back on. Later, she compiled a few of the videos together and posted them on TikTok, where they went viral amassing, more than 1.6 million views
Emily Farrell and her dad, Mark, have always shared a special bond.
Growing up, Emily, a recent graduate of Syracuse University, remembers her dad as her number one supporter, always there to listen through every transition of her life. So, when Emily recently landed her first job in New York City, it wasn’t surprising to her when her dad offered to help her practice her commute to work.
“I don’t travel into the city much, so a week before I started, he decided to do a practice run with me,” Emily, who’s in her early 20s, tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I felt like it was such a nice gesture and it really eased my anxieties about commuting.”
“I think I admire his drive most,” she adds. “He’s always been a hard worker … he traveled a lot and had long nights in the city, but I never felt without him.”
Although the commute was fairly “quick and easy,” Emily says it quickly became a memorable experience with her dad. Throughout the journey, she says Mark shared advice from his 17 years of commuting to the city for work, including tips on what to do if your train is late.
“If your train breaks down, here’s where to go,” she recalls him saying during the practice run. “If this train never comes, here’s a different way I would go. And if all else fails, call me.”
“It felt like more of an excuse to spend time together, and it made me realize how excited he was to be involved in this new, big step of my life,” she adds. “When I was in college, he would drive four hours to pick me up during breaks, or if I had to move out — whatever the case was. During one of our drives, we found a truck stop halfway through that had really good milkshakes. So, we made it a tradition to stop there every time we did that drive together,” she adds. “That was when I really got to hear all of his stories from his life and vice versa. He’d listen to me talk about my experiences.”
“This practice run of my commute reminded me how much I loved our road trips and made me realize how quickly we all grow up,” she continues.
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Throughout the practice commute, Emily took videos on her phone to look back on, including some capturing Mark waiting at the train station, sitting with her on the train and walking through Manhattan.
Later, she compiled a few of the videos together and posted them on TikTok.
“Standards are high because my dad would willingly commute with me to work on the first day of my big girl job,” Emily captioned the video, which has since gone viral, amassing more than 1.6 million views and 1,600 comments.
“It was just an appreciation post for my dad and I thought it would be sweet,” Emily says during her interview with PEOPLE. “The comments on the video were beautiful. So many people were sharing their experiences with their families doing similar things for them. It made me realize how lucky I am to have the support system that I do. Honestly, I would go home and just tear up reading all of the stories. It also made me feel less alone in my anxieties about starting something new. Everyone needs support sometimes.”
Emily adds that since starting her job, her dad has not joined her on her commute again. But she did have to give him a ring once when she found herself on the wrong subway.
“I’m getting the hang of it,” she says. “It’s things like that, that make me realize I’m never alone and always have support.”
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