Bonding

What we in Texas call a “cold front” this time a year is a brief respite from the 100+ heat to something more manageable, like say 90. It was during one such recent cold front that I took some time to sit outside and have a talk with my youngest son. The oldest was out with his cousin for a few hours, so I headed out back and asked Jacob to come on out and help me with the grill (cooked up some nice stuffed chicken breasts).

The evening was perfect. The sun was down behind the house and the temperature was down in the mid 80’s with a nice breeze floating through; nothing big, just enough to ruffle the leaves of the big oak just beyond the fence. The pair of red birds that hang out back in the creek were there that night, like clockwork. As I shut the lid to the grill, I pulled up one of the bar chairs outside and sat down, motioned for my son to come sit down next to me in the other chair.

It was the ideal setting – the two of us, just sitting there, enjoying the weather, enjoying the smell of chicken cooking on the grill. I would ask his opinion on the current political climate, about the trouble in the Middle East and about how to handle Iran. He would just sit there, not saying much. I even talked to him about the birds (but not the “bees”) flying over head and about aviation, and cars. He really speaks volumes through his silence.

After a while I realized that he wasn’t really saying much at all – regardless of the topic, but I could clearly tell he was listening to me. Like when I said something about the planes flying overhead, and how they might be bringing back some of America’s heroes from Iraq, he pointed up and mumbled something unintelligible. But, at least I knew he and I were on the same wave-length.

After about 30 minutes of father-son bonding, the chicken was ready and so was my stomach. Only one thing left to do before heading inside – needed to take the sucker out of my son’s mouth, wash his hands and change his wet diaper. For the life of me – I can’t understand why 1.5 year olds are so helpless.