A Dad and His Boy...

July 2010:

Once upon a time there was a boy, a very grumpy boy, a boy who felt wronged by the world at large. When his mother asked him "why so glum", he hrrumphed and said he didn't want to talk about it. When his sister tried to make him laugh by singing silly songs he claimed that he needed to be alone and stomped outside. He sat alone upon a back yard swing and contemplated how very unfair life was and vowed the he would NOT let his foul mood go, no matter what. 

Enter DAD. 

Dad made his way to the boy's side and after a few moments in hushed conversation a change slowly settled over the angry little boy. He became less angry and more sad. It turns out that the little boy realized that he only had one week left with his dad and then they would be separated for three long months. 

 The boy was sad that his dad wouldn't be there to play with him all summer long, that he wouldn't be there to have adventures with him and wouldn't be there to teach him things that a boy should know before turning 7 by the summer's end.

I don't know what magic words the dad spoke, that is between a man and his boy, but I know that some how the boy felt less weighed down by life's circumstances and even found it in his little soul to smile. 

 The dad and the boy wasted not another minuet in sadness and instead got to the work of playing. First up was sword fighting.

Thrust, parry, swipe!

 Next on the agenda was an adventure. What better adventure than to pretend to ascend into a magical land of the tree dwellers?

From this vantage point all problems and concerns seem miles away. 

And finally the teaching of an essential 7 year old skill...the throwing of the spiky weed. Dad showed the little boy how to pick the perfect stem and remove the weapon from its sheath. 

Then you take aim and flick the pod so that the very pointy end pokes into clothing and hair.

This is a skill that the little boy thought was simply wonderful and worked to perfect his precision marksmanship over the next several months (mom and sisters usually being the targets of choice). 

It just goes to show, that sometimes, when life feels really tough, a boy just needs his dad. 

 and lets be honest...often times, a dad just needs his boy.