Washed Away

My son lives in state of Washington full time with his mom. I live in Daytona Beach, FL. I admit that I struggle with guilt about my marriage that resulted in divorce and how it has impacted my son. It's not easy being a father to a boy that lives 3,000 miles away. I know that he struggles with our relationship too.

Over the past couple of weeks, my son has been visiting me in Florida. Today I took him to Universal theme park in Orlando. It was an expensive trip. $20 for parking, $319 for admission and $55 for souvenirs. I have no idea how much I spent on food and drinks.

At the end of the day, we were walking out of the park. My son reached out for my hand, held it and said, "Thank you Dad. I had a great time with you today." At that moment the money spent, the distance between us and the guilt were washed away when my son held my hand.

What Norm Said

Norm usually does his laundry at my apartment once a week. Why? Because Norm lives in the woods.

Because my son Devon was in town, it wasn't going to work for Norm to do his laundry at my place. I called Norm and asked if we could meet at the laundromat instead. He said yes.

Norm was waiting for us when we pulled into the parking lot. We all walked in together. I gave Norm a couple of bucks to do his laundry, buy a cheeseburger and some smokes.

As we were getting ready to leave Norm said, "Hey Devon, I want to tell you something." Norm looked my son in the eyes and said, "Your Dad loves you. He is so proud of you. He cares about you. He really misses you. He really does. He tells me this all the time. Remember that, okay?"

I hope my son will always remember what Norm said.

Suddenly it was yesterday

We met each other at the airport. He ran into my arms. He nearly knocked me over. I lost him on the shuttle. He laughed when we found each other. We had a smoothie and coffee. We couldn't find my truck in the parking garage. He fell asleep on the way home. We went shopping together and I bought him whatever he wanted including Trix cereal. He rode on the front of the cart. He looked back at me when he was riding on the front of the cart. He remembered and so did I. It was one of those things we always did together. Grocery shopping. Suddenly it was like he never left. Suddenly it was yesterday.