Fathers Thoughts By The Sea

My first child, a son, when he became of age I cast out into the deep ocean to sink or swim because I was confident of him swimming and also trying to prove to myself that I had done a good job and hopefully, confident that God could be trusted.

My second child, a daughter, I dropped at the shallows, and she jumped in and immediately swam to the deepest, most angry sea, where she was tossed and turned until she finally learned the measure of the waves and was able to swim to and in calmer seas.

My third child, a son, took me to the water park at the edge of the ocean and I sat by the sea and watched him play in the water knowing all the while his play would someday make the sea to him as common and welcome as the waterslide he was on.

My last child, a daughter, I showed pictures of the sea and told her of all the great adventures of the sea.  She gently put the pictures away and walked confidently, backwards, into the ocean waving “I love you’s” to me while I sat clutching the picture album.