6 Sadnesses in a mans life

The moments his children leave home, sadness no 1.

As I write this emotion plagues my thoughts.

The moments he says good bye to his children this is the one that causes me to write at this moment. This morning my son drove off back to Brisbane, he had come up to complete his prac experience’s as part of his degree and he wanted some help from me to build his own timber surfboard, I tried to assist him without doing it for him as I believe that doing something like that and wrestling with the small problems you encounter creates the opportunity to develop problem solving skills. He finished it(just) and… I finally have a board that I can use when we are down south next, he also did an amazing job.

My dad is an amazing man with the ability to be able to problem solve and learn new practical skills and implement them to complete a project, somehow he passed this on to me and as I have observed over the last couple of weeks Daniel too has that ability to be practically minded when something motivates him. I would have liked to have taken him out spearfishing once or twice but maybe next time.

How do you put into words the joy that your children give you, I say to everyone I meet that being a dad was the second best decision I ever made, I enjoy doing things with my kids and have loved every part of being a parent, for me the best years are definitely the teenage years as you watch your children grow into themselves and their personalities.

I absolutely love doing things with my kids and it gives me great joy to spend time with them whether that is catching up for a morning breakfast chat, chilling watching a movie together, being challenged by them in a game of underwater hockey or shooting fish as we spear at the reef.

I admit I feel a little guilty as I was not able to comprehend or understand much when I was a young dumb 20 yr old leaving home. However I am now 47 and realise that this was an experience my parents went through and I left their lives a little emptier without really understanding this.

TBC

Previous
Previous

The death of a friends child

Next
Next

love letters to my wife