You’re Already A Good Dad
Life can get pretty repetitive, can’t it? Work, school, ballet, hockey, sleep, repeat. Entire weeks can go by without anything significant happening and I’ve made my peace with that as we can’t be all spontaneity all the time. Every now and then, however, something sneaks up on you and kicks you right upside the head. Such was the case this Monday as I drove my 7 year old son to power skating, as we have done every Monday for the past 3 months.
If you had told me that I was going to get misty eyed while driving to power skating on this day I would have probably laughed, given you an “okay, then” and rushed out the door with my son, you know, because we are literally always late somehow. My son has been more and more interested in hearing about my father lately and never seems to run out of questions about him. I have written about my father before for those who are new here but he passed away a few years ago on the same day that we found out we were pregnant with my son.
While he usually wants to know about my father as a coach and other sports related stories, on this day he shifted his focus to me and was curious about how I dealt with his passing. I know, heavy for a 7 year old, right? That was my initial thought as well but I always jump at the chance to both talk about my dad and bond with my son, so I happily answered his questions.
He asked if I was sad when my father died and how it all happened, which were easy answers. Then he asked me if I missed him and I froze a bit, not sure how much to get into it. I told him that I missed my dad everyday and explained that I was sad that he never got to meet my son and his sister, but mostly I missed him because I didn’t get to have him around to teach me how to do technical things like change a tire, or help me with coaching or help me learn to be a good dad. This conversation alone could have been enough to cause my emotions to go haywire but I held it together, until my son hit me with…
“But, you’re already a good dad.”
I’m guessing he didn’t realize how powerful it was to hear those words after the conversation we had just finished. I thanked him as I discreetly wiped a happy tear from eye and saw him light up knowing that he had made his dad smile. We sat in comfortable silence the rest of the way to hockey, both proud of our achievements for the day.
OMG…..what a fantastic, REAL, and truly precious moment! Aren’t kids Great? Way to go Dad
They are the best!!
Nice. Nice moment. Nice compliment. I can understand why it moved you.
There is nothing quite like the simple words of our children to set our eyes to watering.
Agreed!
Have these conversations with both my girls often. They knew my Dad, but he left us at the age of 56…way too young. The kids were 8 and four at the time. They remember him vividly, but always ask questions that lead me to believe they want to know what type of dad he was…which is basically where your son is heading with his questions. Good stuff man.
Thanks, I think it’s great that he is interested in hearing about my dad because it’s a way of keeping his legacy going. That said, I’m lucky that I had a great dad as I’m guessing the conversation would be tougher had he not been as involved.
wow..wow…wow!!!
Just reading this is getting me all choked up. And all you did was “wipe a happy tear from your eye”?
Maaan….I would’ve been straight up ugly crying! You know…that ugly crying where you’re balling…the tears are straight running down your face like Niagara Falls and the boogers don’t stop running out your nose..
Yeah..Kinda like that!
I remember when I hurt my back and my daughter made me a card at school and surprised me when she got home. The card said “i hope your back gets better soon. I love you Dad” She drew a picture of me in it, with hearts and a house and trees and flowers . To this day – I still remember fully breaking out in tears in my kitchen when she gave it to me.
If she ever says those words to me “But you’re already a good dad”…. I already know, it’s going to be water faucet city for me. 🙂
Your son gets child of the year award in my books!! I’m sure that made you sooo proud!
I’ve always been pretty good at bottling my emotions up, not that it’s a good thing, but the blog has allowed me to have an avenue to get all that stuff out instead of keeping it locked up in my brain.
Oh my god Chris. You have the best son. What a beautiful moment. Thank you so much for sharing.
This is beautiful Chris.