Some Boys Grow In Their Father’s Shadows, Some Erase Their Father’s Shadow
There are shoes that never fit. There are hammers that never pound sense. There are some fish that elude us. Some of us never measure up. Never fit in a neat category; not even close. Some of us drop underhand tossed baseballs. Some of us will never lift weights. Some of us will wear bottle-cap glasses. Some of us will be major disappointments. Some of us will follow you right into jail. Whatever we do will never be enough. We will never be smart enough or too smart for our own good. When I was small, I measured my father’s footsteps. They eclipsed me. They foreshadowed what I could not do. I could have given up; after all, that’s what “losers” do. I could have crawled inside myself; nobody would notice. I could be insignificant forever, never amount to nothing no how. That would have been easy. A piece of cake. Accepting limitations, finding what you can do — that’s harder. Instead of being unable to skip flat stones across still streams, be the stone that goes further than anyone expected.
A Path to the Horizon
My son went away, following a path to the horizon. Soon, he was out of sight. I would have to let go — like a thick tree throws its leaves in despair. I knew where he was going. I could not go. All I could do is watch until I could not see him anymore. Unlike leaves returning as promised, where he was going was where I could not go. I cleaned his room of his childhood like emptying branches. That road, it leads somewhere; where it goes I cannot know yet.
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