Happy Father's Day

When Lucas was about a year and a half he and I went for a walk... we went along Pine and to St. Laurent... near the corner there is a bank and a biggish tree. That's where some of the local squeegee punk homeless kids gather. They pan handle, they wash car windows, that summer they slept there as well.

Normally my interaction with them is limited to giving them some food/changes or a polite no or smile (I'm not some great humanitarian, I just try and remember that they are someone's kid and a human).

Anyway on this walk one of the guys looked at Lucas and I and said "cute kid" and I replied with some sort of joking flip comment (as is my want) like "we like him" or "we love him" or "yes he is". He looked me in the eye and said "Do you love him?" I said "yes I do".

What he said next is what will stay with me forever. He said "You love him forever, and tell him, no matter what, or he'll wind up fucked up like me."

I was taken aback and, frankly, speechless (those of you who know me know what a rare deal this is) so I nodded and said yes.

What I later realized I should have said, what has become my private little mantra (well not so much anymore), is this "I'll love him as long as I draw breath."

What Father's Day is really about isn't the tools, isn't the Bar BQ, or the breakfast (though the French toast was fucking awesome), it isn't really about having a kid (ny moron can make someone pregnant). It's about the relationship, it's about being a Father, about being there, about caring and teaching and hugging and doing all that stuff that's hard but right.