I came home Monday evening. When I arrived at my friend Mykel’s home ( @mwgaybachelor2) Someon
I came home Monday evening. When I arrived at my friend Mykel’s home ( @mwgaybachelor2) Someone was there I wasn’t expecting. Of course my brother and other friends, but my dad was also there. Now, Dad and I have had a strained relationship for some time. The reason is beside the point, and doesn’t really add or take away from the fact that we always were at odds, even as a child. I wasn’t like my older brother Luke. Dad once told me he didn’t understand me. I was nothing like my brother. Yeah damn right.Anyway, Dad was there to help me empty my things into my friend’s garage and boxes to the basement where my room will be for a few weeks. It was remarkable that he was there. Just like it was remarkable when he called me in New York when I was recuperating from Covid. After we moved everything in, he came over and hugged me and said “it’s good to have you home, son.”I cried. Then he asked if we could meet on Wednesday to exchange Christmas Gifts. Which I agreed and ran out immediately to find him something.Tonight we met for Christmas, along with my brother and his girlfriend, also with my dad’s girlfriend (whom I found out tonight is now his fiancé). We made some small talk, and my brother teased me for being single…yet again. At least I don’t have a new significant other, every five to six weeks. Anyway it was time for the gift exchange. I gave my dad the gift card I hastily purchased the day before. He handed me a box. Wrapped beautifully. Leslie said she wrapped it for him. That’s his fiancé. When I opened it and pulled back the tissue paper, my heart dropped and I actually gasped. Tears unexplainably began to stream from my eyes and I took off my glasses and laid then on the table. Inside was a picture. It was framed in a beautiful oak picture frame. One I recognized as a child. It used to house my mother’s college graduation picture. I was told that, that picture was still in the frame behind the one I was now looking at through tear filled eyes. It was a picture of me. I was four days old. In the picture my mother is sitting on the sofa to the right of us, and looking at us with a love so deep you can see it in her eyes. Holding me was my father. He had me outstretched on his lap and looked like he was talking to me. He had on the biggest smile I think I have ever seen on my father’s face.I finally looked away from my gift and looked at my father. Much older now. Lines mark his face, and his hair is white instead of the burnt auburn. But there was that same smile. He looked at me and I saw tears in his eyes as well. “Do you like it?” He said. All I could do was shake my head yes. He smiled again and said. “I have always loved that picture of us. I thought you may like to have it. I carry a copy of the same picture in my wallet.” “I love it Dad. It’s the best gift ever. Thank you. And I love you.”Those words were the easiest words I have ever uttered. Mending fences isn’t easy. It’s hard work. You may get scratches on your hands, maybe even a callous or two. But once the fence is mended, it is just as strong as it was before it was broken.Tonight, my dad and I mended a broken fence. -- source link
#family#homesweethome#christmasgift#undying love#mendingfences#myworld