Short Time Father

During dinner with friends, the twenty-two year old turned to me and said, “Don, I wish you were my father.”

Concerning.

But immediately, it felt exactly right. I never thought that would sound like a compliment. The young person added that it was because his own father was cool and all but that it would have been better for him to have someone like me.

I was being gruff and I was turning ideas over, for fun. No sacred cows. Everything worth skewering. This kid would have loved to have had that growing up.

At the end of the bit he closed with, “You would have made a good father.”

I was father enough. In his mind. During a short section of dinner. I felt proud. Fathers are prone to pride.