Just got off the phone with my father. That call didn’t just elicit a couple of emotional swings, it built a whole damn swingset.
Let’s focus on this one thing, though: I just got off the phone with my father. You know, the guy who two years ago was given a death sentence containing the words “small cell” and “inoperable.”
He’s still here.
Now let’s tease out one more detail from that call: He’s going to Guatemala on a mission trip. This leaves me stunned in about fourteen different ways.
ByGod, it occurs to me that I am still proud of this man. Not thoroughly; not even mostly. But in certain key, important ways that damn near make up for the lack. I call that a win.
“I hope you’re proud / to be my dad.”
Even a decade and a half of estrangement can’t kill certain things.
5 worked it out »