I found this picture in the internet, I don’t remember where; but when I saw it, immediately a smile came to my face; this picture reminded me of my son.
Being unemployed and not having a place to live wasn’t exactly the best situation to receive a newborn. By then we where back in our country and things were complicated; but with a forced happiness we received the news; and with a couple of coins in a pocket as the only money we had, we bought a cheap ice cream, divided it in two and with a mix of sadness, worries and happiness we celebrated having that cheap ice cream, seating in a concrete bench at the city plaza. We didn’t know what would happen when receiving a new born in that situation, especially because we had agreed that we would be a marriage without children, so the news were changing our original plans, and in a moment that wasn’t our best when it comes to take care of a baby.
Yet we received our son and things went fine. Well, things went really more than fine!
A little baby that quickly learned to smile, and then to laugh. And while being unemployed was a problem because of the lack of money, at the other hand gave me the opportunity to enjoy being with my son most of the time, and we had a great time together!
Then coming to the US to get an opportunity at life, and having the chance to live more comfortable and with enough income to go by fine, the time we spent together became the best moments of my life. You see, I’ve heard from many people making complains about how hard is to raise their children, yet for us it wasn’t hard, by the opposite, it was such a wonderful thing to spend time together. For more than ten years I delivered papers at night and worked on cars on my own at the house, so I could be with my son most of the time. We competed in who could read a book faster; we watched movies together; we talked all the time; we became good friends!
And while most people complain year after year their children are at the worst age (I heard that from my parents all the times, LOL), for us our son was always at the best age. We enjoyed the time when he was a baby, when he was a toddler, when he was a small child, a big child, a teenager, and these days we enjoy the times with him when he is already an adult. Always he has been at the best age!
So while these days with my son we can talk about politics, history, car racing, human psychology and many other things; and we can have a good laugh joking all the times, this picture reminds me of the moments when my son was a baby, and so it brings so many memories of all the times together, and all the joys we had throughout his life so far.
But also this picture reminds me that, no matter how old my son can be, he will always be my baby. He will always be my child, and I will always want to hug him and feel I try to protect him, while he watch life around with curiosity, desiring to learn more about what’s out there, and wanting to be part of the world he can see all around.
I guess no matter the pass of time and how old we can become, the relationship between father and son will always be there; and the love and care that generates between both will always exist. For me it was, it is, and it will always be a wonderful thing to have my son!
Raul
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