My youngest child turned 40 today.
At dinner at his favorite restaurant, a really fine Lebanese place with excellent lamb, he turned to me and said
“I remember avoiding time spent with my parents. It always seemed cooler to go out and get high or hang out. Now I enjoy having dinner with you, I look forward to it.”
I wanted desperately to say something funny, or profound but I could not find the words.
I just looked at him with new eyes and “I know. I wish my Dad could be here too.”
Life goes round in a circle while moving on.
I have had a lot of talks about the importance of having a wonderful family. It adds so much to life.
“I wanted desperately to say something funny, or profound but I could not find the words.”
We all have felt this way.
TKC, were you all choked up and couldn’t speak? Is that what you meant by hidden tears?
could be….or maybe it was a cold coming on…or some spicy lamb….
***
What a happy realization! Hope you both have many more great conversations together, over many hearty meals.
Even though I was lucky to have both my parents into their old age, I would just love to be able to talk to them both again.
40? How old were you when you had your son? 10?
All joking aside, I can empathize with you about the inability to speak with your dad. I particularly missed my pop during this past election cycle; we loved discussing politics together and every time something happened this past year I found myself reaching for the phone …
My sons are all adults now.
My middle son serves as my photographer on book projects. When I was writing “Texas Shipwrecks” he and I would go to various places together to do photography. About two weeks after I delivered the book to the publisher he calls me up and says, “So, what’s next?”
Turned out he was not just humoring the old man – he was having fun working on something with me. So, I wrote “The Battleship Texas” and he did most of the photography for one-third of the book.
It turns out there is nothing more fun than working on something together with an adult son.
Seawriter
“It turns out there is nothing more fun than working on something together with an adult son.”
Or daughter. My father and I had a blast putting together a lecture series here in Florida on a monthly basis. Along with many talented and highly influential members, we managed to attract Senator Rubio (back when we loved him), Anne Mulcahy of Xerox, Guv Rick Scott, and even John Boehner and Senator Lugar.
(Note: these last two were not my picks but were quite popular with the RINO crowd and helped increase membership.)