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happy father's day . chicago

By
Real Estate Agent with @properties

Saying good-bye is never easy.

Especially when you are four, haven't had a nap, it's an amazing day and the street fest your parents are dragging you around has your eyes, ears and taste buds in over drive. Such was the case earlier today for Jackson.

What is it about the figurative and literal good-bye that makes our emotions say good night?

I suppose, to drop the a-bomb, it's an unconscious recognition and fear of the abyss. Step off the certainty of this moment when we are awake, when we are playing, when we are doing whatever it is that we know and we enter into an unknown and unwelcome free fall.

Rats!

Just when everything seemed to be going smoothly then the rug is pulled out from under us and voila! The unwelcome and oft unpleasant good bye.

In other words, the situation changes.

Later in the day when Jackson was reconstituted from his earlier missing nap-induced melt-down, I percolated my own meltdown of sorts, this one triggered by a movie Nicole, the boys and I went to see.

What compelled such free flowing from mine eyes? Believe it or not, it was "Toy Story 3."

I admit, in my day I have been know to grow misty-eyed at Coke commercials, Olympic anthems and Kodak advertising. But the story line of the movie, the transition of a group of toys from wanted to ignored status as a child grows up and gets ready to head to college, played my strings on the eve of Father's Day and had me blubbering as my four and three year old sons sat between me and Nicole.

For anybody who has ever headed down the bramble path of reading the children's story "Love You Forever," it wasn't quite the wallop to the bean that that "I will only read one time" story had. But still, my sun-kissed face glistened in the dark theater as I witnessed the transition of the off-to-college character from his more youthful encumbrances and parlayed it to my own babies.

Without spilling too much of the movie one of the sub-stories deals with a lost toy that makes it back to his owner only to find he had been replaced by a newer version of himself. Yesterday in the mail we received a replacement "horsey" for the one that must have bounced out of the stroller the week before last as we made our way from Lakeview to the Lincoln Park farmer's market and then down to the Gold Coast to look at a few condos.

More than a toy, this stuffed horse had assumed epic status with Lucas, traveling around the world and providing solace and comfort. Years of training had established the little brown horse to have perfectly cultivated ears to serve as something of an ear pacifier for Lucas. And then in an instant, he was gone.

When we realized his absence after midnight I headed out from our Lakeview condo aboard Jackson's Razor Scooter and retraced our path down Sheridan to Stockton to the Farmer's Market. I pretended to have laser vision for the hour jaunt, yet my efforts yield nothing so much as proficiency on Jackson's blade.  It was the night of the Hawk's Stanley Cup victory so staying out any later than the 1am toll I had struck didn't seem sensible. Empty handed, I returned home.

My wife and I looked at each other during the movie when the lost stuffed animal returned home to find his place taken. Horsey, we both thought, and I suppose we both thought our own thoughts of dread of when our babies come to a place when the vestiges of babyhood no longer apply.

Bittersweet.

That's the sentiment that triggered the tears as I watched the movie today and thought of my own boys and how they too will grow up and leave behind things of their youth. The whole, "when I was a child I spoke like a child" thing from Corinthians. I just hope that as our babies become boys and then men that they will have in their hearts poignant reminders and remembrances of what it was like when we carried them in our arms, of summer street festivals and toys that may have been more important to us than to them.

Comments (3)

Elite Home Sales Team
Elite Home Sales Team OC - Corona del Mar, CA
A Tenacious and Skilled Real Estate Team

Oh yes it is all something that you will never forget and it will be fond memories.

Jun 19, 2010 06:27 PM
Leslie Ebersole
Swanepoel T3 Group - Saint Charles, IL
I help brokers build businesses they love.

Now hum Puff the Magic Dragon for a few minutes and you'll really "mist up". Sweet post.

Jun 19, 2010 06:39 PM
Charles Edwards Bentonville
Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette 479-253-3796 - Bentonville, AR
AR REALTOR, Bentonville Real Estate Agent and Broker

Poignant, personal, perfectly presented post. Thanks for sharing it with us. I too love being a Dad.

Jun 20, 2010 12:50 AM