Father's Day gets complicated when your Dad is gone. It doesn't matter how long it's been. Things come rushing back as the day progresses. All the things you've said and done. And all the things that remained unsaid, because all of us think we're promised the time not only to read all the books we want to read, but to say all the things we want to say. I looked up to my father as I've never looked up to anyone. He was as good a man as I’ve ever known. Loyal. Kind. Empathetic. Determined. And fearless the way a true man always is. Scared most days of something, but unwilling to let the fear stop him barrelling forward. He led by example, and if he had a flaw in my eyes it's that the example he set was impossible to live up to.
© 2024 Tom Flannery
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