One day a dad and his grown son are having lunch together. The son asks the dad: “when I have a son, what should I tell him about you”? The son continues: “as far as I can see, you really haven’t accomplished much, you’re not rich or famous, so what should I say”? The dad is embarrassed that his son is asking him to justify himself. And he tries to be funny, but stutters as he replies: “just tell him that before him, there was you, and before you, there was grand-dad”. The son responds: “that’s normal and everybody knows that, I might as well say nothing at all”. The dad becomes sad and murmurs: “why can’t I be a normal dad” and changes the subject.

Eventually the old dad dies and then his son gets married and has his own son.

One day the young dad and his son are having lunch together. The son asks his dad: “Do you have a daddy”? The dad replies: “I used to have one, but he died before you were born, he was your grand-dad.” Then his son asks: “can you tell me about him”? As he tries to remember, he realizes that his dad was almost like him. Because he was there when he was born. He took care of him, when he was sick. He would take him to church. And after his parents became divorced, his dad would still provide and made sure his family had everything they needed. He was there when he graduated from high school, and even when he and his siblings were young adults, his dad was always ready and willing to help. And then tears streamed down the young dad’s cheeks, because he remembered the conversation he had with his father before he passed away.

So, he replies: “grand-dad loved me, just like I love you” and the grand-son smiles.

Public Domain 2020