A touching moment...
From a very early age Junior has shown pleasure at seeing his Dad come home from work in an evening. But this Monday was something else.
I have always come in and said hello straight away, but on Monday night I broke the routine and headed for the day's post first.
As I opened the door, with the usual alarm chime sounding, Junior realised Daddy was home. He was bouncing at the time on MOTS' lap on the sofa, which increased in rate and magnitude at the excitement of Daddy coming in.
Only Daddy didn't come in, he turned left instead of right and headed for the pile of unopened envelopes.
"I think you need to say hello to your boy", instructed MOTSWhat I hadn't seen was the reduced bouncing and the trout face being displayed. What I did hear was the slight whimper. At this point I entered the lounge to see Junior looking up and sport a big beaming smile, followed immediately by a return to increased bouncing.
"I'll just flick through the post", deferred I
"I think you need to say hello now", suggested MOTS
"Just a minute", confirmed I
As I've never had him in this situation before I've never noticed it. He's always pleased to see me, but that's a reaction to something being there. A reaction to a specific situation. Monday was different, it was an adverse reaction to the absence of a situation. It was the acknowledgement that he was either used to something happening that didn't, or just missing something that was expected.
Either way, I was really pleased at his disappointment that I hadn't said hello. I really felt like I had made the transition from "father" to "dad", and even as I type I'm fighting the lump in the throat and tears in the eyes.
Comments
That gave ME a lump in my throat Lee!
Posted by: Sarah | May 2, 2007 8:41 AM
Check that lump, it might be Chris's cooking!
Posted by: Lee | May 4, 2007 8:32 PM