I Hope he Keeps in Touch

I was chatting to a man the other day who had just driven his son to university.  I asked him if he cried and he un-ashamedly said “Yes”.  He then went on to say that he doesn’t have the greatest relationship with his son and he wasn’t the best communicator, but then he said something that nearly made me cry, “I hope he keeps in touch”.

I’m extremely aware that our lives & relationships are all transient on this world, but putting Darwin in this other man’s sons shoes[i] made me get butterflies in my stomach.  I thought about it all weekend, and when Darwin and I wrestled on his bed and he hugged me and told me he loved me, I nearly cried again.  They’ll be a time, and probably before I know it too, when we won’t wrestle and he probably won’t hug me either or initiate an “I love you Daddy”.  I will always tell him that I love him though, I’m like that.

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[i] Ken Dodds Dads dog’s dead!