Before I knew it,
I was surrounded by hungry boys. The
twins, roused by the intoxicating smell of frying bacon were up and dressed in
record time. The two of them sat at the
picnic table licking their lips. There
eyes were literally sparkling with excitement over the adventure which lay
ahead that day. Josh, after lighting the
fire, toasted up the English muffins and warmed up the baked beans.
Before long, we
were all sitting around the table filling our bellies with a hot and tasty
heart-stopper of a breakfast. The twins
didn’t eat like teenagers, but they managed to put a lot of food away. I couldn’t figure out where they put it in
their small bodies. Josh of course, was
a bottomless pit.
“Are you guys
ready to catch some fish?” I asked.
“Yeah, I wanna
catch a big one,” Richard said with an enormous grin.
“Me too,” chimed
in Matthew as he shoveled a final forkful of scrambled eggs into his mouth.
“How
about you, kiddo?” I asked Josh.
He was sitting next to me and leaning against my side.
“I can’t wait,”
he replied with that bright smile that always warmed my heart.
As I sat there
that morning, I couldn’t imagine any place that I’d rather be. I might have been a computer junkie, but I
was really in my element in the outdoors.
The fact that I was there with my son and my twin nephews, all of whom I
loved dearly, made it all that much better.
Josh and I sipped
cups of coffee while the twins washed down their breakfast with glasses of
orange juice. “Did you guys sleep well
last night?” I asked.
“It was kinda
cold,” Richard replied. “I was ok when I
climbed in with you. You were nice and
warm.”
“So was Josh,”
Matthew replied.
“That’s ok, I
didn’t mind at all as long as you were comfortable. I didn’t know you were there until I woke up
anyway.”
“You both snore,”
Matthew piped in.
“I do not,” Josh
said and looked to me for support.
“Sorry bud, but
you really do snore. Not loudly, but
it’s a sound I’d know anywhere. I
actually like the sound of your snoring.”
I chuckled.
Josh grinned at
me, “Sometimes you sound like you’re sawing logs with a chainsaw!”
The twins laughed
hysterically at Josh’s comment. “It
wasn’t THAT bad,” Richard said.
“Thanks little
buddy,” I said and reached over to ruffle his hair.
When we were all
finished eating, Josh and the twins gathered up and cleaned all the dishes
while I got the fishing gear ready to go.
The boat was docked just down the dirt road at the camp docks. I’d already booked the boat and motor along
with lifejackets for each of us so all we had to do was show up and push
off. I had also bought several Styrofoam
containers of dew worms to use as bait.
After putting out
the camp fire, we headed off to the docks.
The twins were just about as excited as I had ever seen them, and their
glee was infectious. Josh and I both
wore large grins as we climbed into the boat and began stowing our gear.
“Lifejackets on
everyone,” I said as we all took our seats.
I knew that Josh and I were strong swimmers but I wasn’t going to take
any chances with the twins. It might
have been a little cumbersome, but I decided that it was necessary that we all
kept our lifejackets on while on the lake.
Pretty soon we
were all suited up and ready to go. I
fired up the motor as Josh untied us from the dock and pushed off. The boat was a small aluminum boat with an
outboard motor. It was a little on the
small side but we had plenty of room. In
addition to our fishing gear, we had a cooler filled with an assortment of cold
drinks, snacks and sandwiches for lunch.
Normally, if it
was just Josh and I, I would have headed out to the deeper water and done some
trolling for the really big fish which lurked in the depths of the lake. Because this was the twin’s first time, I
decided to hit a number of the places where I knew we could drop anchor and
fish for some nice pan-sized rainbow trout.
I was sure that Josh and I would end up spending most of our time
helping the twins but neither of us minded.
This trip was really for them, since they wouldn’t get to see much of us
during the summer months.
“Make us go
faster!” Richard shouted as I throttled up the motor and headed out onto the
lake.
The lake was
smooth as glass that morning so I decided to indulge my nephews and gunned the
motor. The bow rose out of the water and
we were literally flying over the water.
“COOL!” Matthew
crowed.
Josh looked at me
with a massive grin on his face and shook his head. As we got closer to the intended fishing
hole, I throttled down the engine to slow us down and so as not to scare the
fish.
“Why are we
slowing down Uncle Tommy?” Richard asked
with a disappointed look on his face.
“We don’t want to
scare all the fish away,” I said. I cut
the engine entirely and let us drift to a gentle stop about 100 feet away from
a steep rock wall. We were floating just
over the edge of a deep hole where I knew good sized rainbow trout lurked. “Drop the anchor, Josh.”
Josh stood up and
lowered the anchor over the port side of the boat until it was submerged, and
then let it drop. It seemed to hit
bottom in a perfect position to hold us on the edge of the drop off. There was a very light breeze on the water
and it was pleasantly cool. I knew it
would warm up quite a bit as the day wore on so I ensured that we had lots of
sun screen and we all had shorts which we could change into.
“How do we go to
the bathroom out here?” Matthew asked.
“That depends,” I
said with a smile. “If you have to pee,
you can do it in the bucket and then dump it overboard. If you have to do number 2, we’ll pull in
somewhere and you can do it in the bushes.
I brought toilet paper.”
“Mom said to
watch out for poison ivy,” Richard said.
“Yeah, you don’t
want to sit down on poison ivy, it’ll give you an itchy butt,” Josh said with a
grin.
The twins giggled
sweetly.
I paired up with
Matthew, and Josh paired up with Richard.
We helped them get their lines baited and taught them how to cast. They picked it up surprisingly quick for a
pair of six-year-olds. With the twins
taken care of, Josh and I set up our lines and before long,
all four of us were intently watching our bobbers.
I hoped the fish
would be biting so the twins wouldn’t get bored. I decided to make it a little more
interesting for them anyway. “Ok guys,
we’re going to have a little fishing derby.
I have prizes for whoever catches the biggest fish, whoever catches the
first fish and whoever catches the most fish.”
“What are the
prizes?” Richard asked. He had a keen
look of interest on his cute little face.
“How
about $20?” I asked.
“WOW,” the twins
said in near perfect unison.
Much to my
relief, we didn’t have long before the fish started biting. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Matthew’s
bobber jiggle slightly. “Matthew, you
have a fish nibbling at your hook. When
he bites and pulls the bobber under the water, pull back hard on your rod,” I
said as I demonstrated how to set the hook.
“After you do that, start reeling him in.”
Matthew got a
real serious look of concentration on his face as he stared at his bobber. Josh and Mark also turned and watched
him. Sure enough, a couple of second
later, the bobber was pulled violently under the water. “Tug the rod now, Matthew,” I said excitedly.
Matthew jerked
the rod back and the fish was hooked. He
started frantically reeling in his fish.
“It’s pulling really hard,” He chirped.
Josh stood up and
grabbed the landing net as I position myself to assist Matthew should he
require any help. “You’re doing fine,
little buddy. Reel him in and Josh will
scoop him up in the net.”
“There he is!”
Richard shouted excitedly as we caught sight of a flash of silver just a few
feet from the boat.
Matthew, who
looked like he was starting to tire out, kept reeling and finally the fish was
along side the boat. Josh reached down
with the net and hauled it into the boat.
Matthew jumped up and down excitedly as the fish flopped around like mad
on the bottom of the boat. I grabbed it
and removed the hook before handing Matthew his catch.
“Grab it here by
the gills,” I instructed as he proudly held up his first ever fish. It was a beauty too. It was about 14 inches long and must have
weighed about two-and-a-half pounds. The
rainbow colouring on its flanks was
breathtaking. Matthew was grinning from
ear-to-ear. He must have been just about
the happiest little boy in the world at that moment.
“Way to go,” Josh
said as he patted Matthew on the back.
“That’s a big
one!” Richard said, obviously happy for his brother.
“Give me five,
little buddy,” I said with a grin.
“That’s the first fish of the day, which means that you win the first
$20 prize!”
Matthew’s grin
got even bigger when he heard that.
“You’re the best, Uncle Tommy,” he said as he placed set the fish down
and gave me a big hug.
I picked up the
fish, showed the boys how to put it on a stringer and lowered it into the
water.
“He won’t get
away will he?” Richard asked.
“No, he can’t get
away; we just have to make sure that we pull him in if we decide to move to
another place.”
I had just barely
picked up my own rod when suddenly Josh got a solid bite.
“I’ve got one,”
Josh said excitedly.
Evidently I had
selected the right place. I figured that
if we kept up that pace, we’d all have caught our limit by lunch time. I watched as Josh reeled in his fish and I stood
by with the net. Pretty soon, Josh had
the fish along side and I neatly scooped it up in the net.
It was another
beautiful rainbow trout. I measured it
and it was a little over 14 inches long but slightly heavier than Matthew’s
fish. “This guy looks a little bigger
than Matthew’s,” I said.
“Nah, it’s
smaller,” Josh said as he winked at me.
I knew what he
meant. He didn’t want to disappoint a
little boy, so although he knew his fish was bigger; he wanted to make Matthew
happy. It just reminded me of one of the
reasons that I loved him so much. “Yeah,
I think you’re right. Matthew’s fish is
just a tad bigger.”
Matthew’s smile
could have lit up a dark room.
“Wow! That means that I’m winning
the biggest fish contest too!”
I was hoping and
praying that Richard would land the next fish and I wasn’t disappointed. About 20 minutes after we got Josh’s fish
secured on a stringer, Richard’s float went down for the count. “Quick Richard, set the hook and reel him
in,” Josh encouraged him.
“It feels like a
big one,” Richard enthused. The
excitement in his little voice was wonderful to hear.
We watched as the
little guy reeled like mad and soon had the fish at the side of the boat. “I see him, I see him,” he shouted excitedly.
I loved fishing,
but I was enjoying watching Josh and my nephews even more. The happiness of all three boys was
energizing. Watching Josh interact with
the twins was a real treat. Most boys
his age wouldn’t tolerate such young kids very well but Josh was enjoying being
with them. I could see that one day Josh
as going to be a damn good dad.
I leaned down and
netted Richard’s fish. It was a really
good sized rainbow. Easily the biggest
catch of the day so far. “Way to go
Richard, this one’s a monster!” I said
excitedly. I unhooked it, weighed and
measured it. The fish was almost 17
inches long and weighed good three-and-one-half pounds. I handed Richard his fish and enjoyed the
massive smile on his face as he marveled at the first fish that he’d ever
caught.
“He’s huge!” he
hollered. He was a very happy little boy
at that moment.
I secured the
fish on the stringer and got his line set back up for him. As we continued to fish, I noticed that
Richard kept looking at his fish as it swam around on the stringer. He was very proud of himself.
I was the only
one who hadn’t caught a fish yet but I didn’t really care. I was having the time of my life giving my
nephews the experience of their first fishing trip and spending time with Josh.
As the morning
wore on, Josh and Matthew caught another two pound rainbow each and Richard
managed to land two more. We took a
snack break at around
“Why can’t we
just pee over the side?” Richard asked.
“Well, you could
but if a gust of wind came up while you were doing it, you might end up peeing
on yourself or someone else,” I said with a laugh.
“Yuck!” Matthew
said and screwed his sunny face into a tight grimace.
I finally caught
my first fish of the day at about
“Holy crap,” Josh
exclaimed.
“You said crap,”
Richard said.
“So did you,”
replied Matthew.
“Don’t worry
about it guys, its ok out here, just don’t let your mom and dad hear you say
that or they’ll have my head on a platter.”
It took me almost
15 minutes of fighting the fish before I finally got it close enough to the
boat for Josh to net it. He scooped it
up and hauled it into the boat. When I
looked at the fish, I was both elated and disappointed at the same time. I had caught a very large small mouth
bass. I weighed it and it came in at
over 8 pounds which makes it the biggest small mouth that I’d ever heard
of. The problem, however, was that bass
were out of season until late June and I had to throw it back.
“Why do you have
to throw it back, Uncle Tommy?” Matthew
asked.
“Because
it isn’t in season. It’s against the law to keep fish which
aren’t in season.”
“Oh. Why isn’t it in season?” Richard asked.
“Because this is
the time when they lay their eggs and have baby bass,” Josh answered for
me. I was relieved that when the twins
let it drop and I didn’t have to get into a discussion of the birds and the
bees with my six year old nephews!
We kept fishing
for a little while longer before taking a break for lunch. We all changed into our shorts and short
sleeved shirts before we devoured a large quantity of tuna sandwiches, peanut
butter and jam sandwiches, fresh fruit, cookies, crackers and cans of pop. As we ate, Josh repositioned himself next to
me and began massaging my shoulders.
“That must have
been hard work reeling in that monster bass,” he said.
“It was. If only it was in season. I would have had that bad boy stuffed and
mounted.”
“You did the
right thing by throwing it back. It
wouldn’t have been a very good example for the twins if you hadn’t.” Josh said
as he kept up his loving ministrations on my neck and shoulders.
“That feels
great, kiddo.”
“I’m glad. I love you Dad,” he said.
“I love you too,
son. I was watching you with the boys
and thinking that you’ll be a great dad when you grow up.”
“I had the best
teacher,” Josh replied warmly and wrapped his arms around me in a tight hug.
That afternoon, I
finally managed to land a keeper trout.
It was not quite as big as the one on Richard’s stringer, but it was a
keeper none the less. I was happy that
at least I wouldn’t be going back to the campsite empty handed. We fished until about
The final tally
for the day was four good sized trout for Matthew, three for Richard, three for
Josh and two for me. Richard’s first 17
inch rainbow was indeed the largest fish of the day.
“Can I drive the
boat?” Josh asked.
“Sure, come over
here and change seats with me,” I replied.
Josh and I
squeezed past each other in the small boat and he sat down in the driver’s
seat. I gave him a brief lesson in
steering with an outboard motor and taught him how to start it up. Josh fired up the motor as I hauled in the
anchor along with the stringers of fish.
Matthew and Richard sat and admired their catches as Josh turned the
boat towards the other shore and gunned the engine. It had been an exciting day for the twins and
I knew that I’d have two very tired little boys on my hands that night.
Josh did a great
job of driving the boat and before too long we pulled up to the dock. I reached out and pulled us in and tied us
off. Poor Matthew was just about hopping
up and down so he ran off to use the bathroom in the camp office while the rest
of us unloaded the gear from the boat.
A few minutes
later, Matthew returned looking quite relieved and we all gathered our gear and
our fish then headed off to our campsite.
“Hey Josh, how
would you like to cook dinner while I clean the fish?”
Josh flashed me
his famous million candle power smile.
Like most red-blooded males, the prospect of cooking meat over an open
fire was a very attractive proposition.
“Sure, we’re having hamburgers, right?”
“Yeah and we can
roast hotdogs later on sticks if we’re still hungry,” I replied.
“Oh, I’ll be
hungry,” Josh replied with a chuckle.
Before I began
cleaning the fish, I got out my digital camera and took photos of each of the
boys with their fish. The twins were
virtually glowing as they held up their fish for the camera. After I had photos of each of the boys, Josh
took the camera and took my picture and then we set the timer and placed the
camera on the picnic table and took a group photo of all four of us with all 12
of the fish we caught that day. I made a
mental note to bring the camera out in the boat with us the next day. If anyone landed another monster bass, we
could at least take a picture before throwing it back.
Josh had the boys
hunt around for some suitable hotdog and marshmallow roasting sticks as he got
the fire going and started on dinner. I
laid out some newspaper and began gutting the fish. It didn’t take long to complete the job since
trout are usually cooked largely intact.
Usually the most difficult and time consuming part of cleaning fish is
the filleting and skinning.
As I began
working, it didn’t take long for the twins to come over and watch. Typical boys, rather than being disgusted by
the sight of fish guts, they were fascinated by it.
Once all 12 fish
were cleaned, I went down to the camp office to purchase a number of bags of
ice and I packed the cleaned fish in ice and loaded them into a special fish
cooler. By adding fresh ice each day,
the fish would remain fresh until we got them home and could freeze them. I selected two of the fish and prepared them
to for cooking that very night.
As Josh grilled
the hamburgers on the fire, I lit the Coleman stove and fried up the two trout
that I had selected.
“Are you supposed
to eat the head too?” Matthew asked.
“I wouldn’t
recommend it!” I replied with a smile.
“When they’re done cooking, the meat comes off the bones really easy.”
The smell of
grilling beef and frying fish had all of our stomachs rumbling in no time at
all. By the time dinner was served, we
were all ravenous. “Watch out for bones
in the fish,” I told the boys. “Take
small bites, I don’t want anyone choking.”
The boys dug into
the fish with gusto. Few things can
compare to the taste of fresh trout, fried in butter and eaten in the
outdoors. The fish was wonderful and I
had seasoned it perfectly. The four of
us made it all disappear in no time at all.
Josh’s burgers were grilled to perfection and they didn’t last long
either. Josh downed three of them while
the twins and I managed to eat two each.
We chased the fresh trout and burgers with a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos
and cold cans of Coke. I looked at my
nephews and just shook my head. They
weighed about 65 pounds each and yet they ate just about as much as I had.
We cleaned up
after supper and then decided to take a walk around the campground. Being cooped up in the boat
all day left us all needing to stretch our legs. A few campsites down from us, an elderly
couple in a motor home had two beautiful Golden Retrievers. They were very friendly dogs and they came
out to greet us.
We all had a
great time petting the dogs. I had
always been a dog lover and as I watched Josh and the twins play with the big
friendly creatures, it occurred to me that dogs and boys seemed to be made for
each other. It was a natural pairing if
ever there was one. I began to wonder
what Susan would think about the idea of getting a dog!
The sun was
setting by the time we returned to our campsite so I sent Josh to get the
lantern ready for the night and to make sure that the tent was in order for the
night. I had the twins change back into
long pants as I prepared a nice bonfire.
When we were finally
ready for the night, the twins sat down on the picnic table and Josh and I went
into the tent to change into our own long pants. When we got inside, I noticed that Josh had
slightly reconfigured the sleeping bags.
We had identical sleeping bags and he had managed to zip both of them
together into a double sleeping bag and he placed the twin’s sleeping bags side
by side to the right of ours.
“We haven’t slept
together in a few days and I was missing it,” Josh said.
“Me too kiddo,” I
smiled and squeezed his shoulder.
“There’s plenty of room if the little guys decide to join us.”
“They’re great
kids,” Josh said thoughtfully as he pulled on his pants. “They really love you.”
“They love you
too, Joshy.
You’re almost like their big brother.”
“I like that,”
Josh replied.
Suitably clothed
for the cool May evening, we rejoined the twins beside the fire. I could see them both yawning so I knew they
wouldn’t last long that night. I dug out
the marshmallows and hot dogs and everyone dug in. Before it got too late, I decided to hand out
the mini fishing derby prizes.
“Hey guys, I owe
you some prize money,” I said as I reached for my wallet. Suddenly the boys were wide awake again. “First of all, Matthew Davis wins $20 for
catching the first fish and $20 for catching the most fish.” I handed two $20
bills to Matthew so then set down his roasting stick long enough to reward me
with a big hug and sloppy kiss on my cheek.
“Thanks Uncle
Tommy,” he said sweetly.
“Richard Davis
wins $20 for catching the biggest fish of the day and $20 for making the final
catch of the day,” I said as I handed Richard two $20 bills. Once again, I was rewarded with a big hug and
a kiss on my cheek.
“How
about Josh?” Matthew asked.
“I get the best
prize of all, I get Tommy as my dad,” he said as he followed the twins lead and
hugged me fiercely. “I love you.”
“I love you
too. I love all of you guys.”
I told some more
ghost stories as we roasted marshmallows and hot dogs but before long, the
excitement of the day caught up with my nephews and they were starting to drift
off. “It looks like its time for two
tired little boys to go to bed.”
The twins nodded
and stood up and stumbled into the tent.
I gave them a moment to get ready for bed before going in and kissing
each of them goodnight and tucking them in.
I swore that they were asleep before I even finished zipping up the
tent.
“You’re doing a
lot better now, aren’t you?” Josh asked
as I sat down beside him and put an arm around his shoulders. “You’re pretty much back to being your old
self again.”
“Yeah, I’m
dealing with the shooting a lot better now.
That’s thanks to Doctor Pollard and it’s also thanks to you and the rest
of my family. Without you guys, I’d be a
wreck.”
“I’m glad that
you’re feeling better. It hurt me a lot
to see you so miserable like that. I
feel like we’re attached and when one of us hurts, the other feels it.” Josh mused.
“I know what you
mean. When you love someone as much as
we love each other, that often happens. I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I
feel like there was something missing in my life before you came back into
it. I mean, I was happy and doing well,
but there was a missing piece of the puzzle.”
“I know I was
missing something. I was missing a
Dad. I love my mom but she seems to be
in her own world sometimes. I know she
loves me, but sometimes she doesn’t pay as much attention to me as I want her
to. I feel much closer to you than I am
to my mom.”
“Your mom does
love you, but I think she just doesn’t realize that you need and want her
attention too.”
“I know, but
since you moved in, I’ve been happier than I’ve ever been before. It’s like you said the night you went to the
hospital, everything happens for a reason.
I think we were brought together because we both needed something.”
“I think so
too.” I pulled Josh closer to my side
and he wrapped his arm around my shoulders.
We sat there arm-in-arm for several moments and watched the fire.
“It isn’t just
the things you do for me or that we do together that make me happy. It’s the feeling that I know that no matter
what happens, I have someone to turn to, someone who will always love me and
who will help me through anything. I
feel safer than I ever have before.”
Josh said as he rested his head on my shoulder.
“I feel the same
way, Josh. It will always be that way
too. Even when we’re old and gray, I
know we’ll still be this close.”
We sat there
watching the fire and looking at the stars for another hour before deciding to
turn in. We doused the fire with water
and made sure it was out before quietly climbing into the tent so as not to
disturb the twins. We undressed and
climbed into our combined sleeping bags and snuggled up together. Josh lay on his side and I lay behind him and
wrapped my arms around his chest pulling him into me.
“Goodnight son,”
I said as I gently kissed the back of his shoulder.
“Goodnight dad,”
Josh replied as he took my hands in his and interlaced our fingers
together. Within minutes, I could hear
the familiar sound of his soft snoring.
The rest of the
weekend was a just as fun as the first day had been. Our second day on the lake resulted in
another 10 good sized trout packed into the cooler. That night, we ate a whole mess of fish which
we had grilled on the open fire and the taste was heavenly. When Monday rolled around, we broke camp and
headed for home.
The trip had been
a huge success and I knew it was an experience the twins would remember fondly
for the rest of their lives. When we
dropped them off, the two of them were speaking a mile-a-minute as they
excitedly showed James and Anne their fish and told them all about their
fun-filled weekend.
Josh and I headed
home and got back into our normal routine was we waited out the final month
before leaving on our trip of a lifetime.
For the most part, that month was uneventful.
We made the final
preparations for the trip, planned out our route and programmed it into the
GPS. We had everything worked out and
had specific objectives and destinations for each day. It was going to be the tour of a lifetime and
all that was left to do was to wait for June the 24th – our
departure date.
The one little
surprise during that time came, compliments of Josh, on the Sunday before we
were to leave. I woke up early to the
smell of cooking bacon. Josh had slept
with me that night but he was nowhere to be found, so I figured that he must
have been the one cooking bacon. I went
into the bathroom to relieve my bladder and then intended to throw on a robe
and join him for breakfast. When I came
out of the bathroom, he was back in my room and he was carrying a tray of food.
“Morning Josh,” I
said only half awake. “What’s all this?”
“It’s Father’s
Day,” Josh replied with a smile. “I
think that applies to Dads as well as fathers so happy Father’s Day.”
I stood there for
a moment not knowing what to say. I had
a rather large lump in my throat. I
finally stepped forward, took the tray from Josh, set it down on the dresser,
and pulled him into a big bear hug. “Oh Joshy, that is so nice.
This means so much to me. Thank
you. I love you so damned much.”
I felt him wrap
his arms around me. “I love you too,
Dad. I made you breakfast in bed and I
have a little present for you.”
I climbed back
into bed as Josh sat the tray down in front of me and then climbed in beside
me. He handed me a cup of coffee and
then snuggled up against my side. “You
know something, next Saturday, the day that we leave on the trip, that’s the
two year anniversary of the day we met for the very first time.”
I hadn’t thought
of it before, but he was right. It would
have been the day that camp started two years earlier. “That makes it an important date,” I replied
as I hugged him tightly.
“This is a
special date too. It’s the first
Father’s Day that I’ve ever had a Dad to celebrate it with. I got you this,” Josh said as he handed me a
small box.
“You didn’t have
to get me anything,”
“Yes I did. This is important to me,” Josh replied
firmly.
I studied his
eyes for a moment and then opened the box.
The lump returned instantly to my throat and I couldn’t speak. Inside the box was a gold chain with what
resembled a dog tag hanging from it. The
dog tag was engraved and read ‘Josh’s dad, always and forever.’ I took the chain out of the box with trembling
hands and put it on. “Thank you Joshy. I love it and
I love you.”
“I love you
too. Dog tags come in pairs,” Josh said
as he reached into his shirt and showed me the twin of the tag that I was
wearing. It read ‘Tommy’s son, always
and forever.’
I set the
breakfast tray aside and pulled my son into my arms and pulled him into another
massive hug. I wrapped my arms around
him and rubbed his back. I was at a
total loss for words but I knew Josh could tell what I was feeling. We both knew this was one of those moments
when no words were necessary for us to convey our thoughts and our feelings for
each other. We must have stayed in that
position for a solid ten minutes before releasing one another.
Only six days
separated us from the long awaited trip.
A trip that would change both of our lives, would bring us even closer
together and would, unbeknownst to either of us, become one of those pivotal
moments in history.