25 YEARS AGO

(DEDICATED TO MY SON)

Twenty-five years ago, I held my son in my arms.
I promised him my love and my protection.
He was our baby then.
He passed the baby stage a long time ago.

When he was five, we sent him to Pre-K,
Followed by elementary school.
He struggled and he triumphed thru school,
As so many children did and have always done.
But he learned and absorbed knowledge.
He was no longer a child.

We watched him grow from a child into a man.
I coached him on the philosophies of baseball and the choices you make,
Mainly that if you don’t enjoy what you are doing,
Then stop doing it and pursue that which makes you happy.
In what was to be his final year in Little League, I became
So physically sick and unable to continue coaching that I was unable
To help him thru the trials and tribulations of the game.
I believe he gave baseball up, for that period of time, to help
His father thru some very physical and emotional neurological pain.
Yet my son, with his mother, stood by my side and was there till
My body and My God decided I and my family had gone thru enough.
My son endured a lot for the sake of his father.
Though he was still young, He was no longer a child.
 
I have watched my son grow thru the influential years
As a teenager.
I have seen him struggle with life’s challenges
During that period.
And I tried to be there for him.
Like I did with his older sister,
I told him of the mistakes I had made
As a young man, what they cost me in years of life
And how I wanted him to learn from my mistakes.
He made choices regarding lifestyles and friendships
That were, I feel, tough for him to make.
Apparently, my lessons I shared with him paid off.
My son grew from a non-typical teenager to a Man.

I damaged my family’s relationship many years ago
When I found myself taking my wife’s place in my heart
For granted; a mistake that had been ongoing for years.
Yet I never accepted it as the truth; I was in denial.
This led to events which led to our mutual divorce.
My son endured the pain of my mistakes
Which increased the pain within my heart.
Yet my son was a Man through it all.

It is said that Time heals all wounds.
For my wife and best friend, that has become true.
We have been back together for a long time now by working together
And trusting one another again, with a better relationship
Than before.
I pray to God every night that the pain and wounds
My son endured have truly healed between he and I.
 
My son was a baby, soon to be a young man.
Now my son is a Man, facing life’s challenges
And meeting those challenges head-on.
Let it be known that I, My Son’s father, will always
Be there to give him my love, my support and my soul
No matter what trials and tribulations he faces.
For I am his father and I will always Love my Son Unconditionally
For Time Eternal.