More Magic Moments

My father worked his ass off for more years than I, or he, cares to count. Five days a week, 12 hours a day, plus a half day or more on Saturday. So as a kid I really didn’t get to see as much of him as I would have liked. I understood that for the most part, but admittedly sometimes I also resented it. Kids don’t always understand the responsibilities adults face, and the fact that they have to work that hard at a low-paying job just so we could be kids and have the basics. Even so, we were never wealthy or what might even be called comfortable. Still, we didn’t go without, except maybe for some of that companionship and bonding a boy needs from a father at times.

But I am not complaining about it. Far from it. Because there are memories that came with it I will cherish the whole of my life. Like the comic books he would pick up for me every week and slip into his newspaper so I’d come running to check every night when he walked in the door. Or when he woke me up one night because a local radio station had started playing old episodes of The Shadow (thereby creating a life-long fascination for me with the character.)

And the occasional times he would take me to some movie, though it could be like pulling an arm to get him to go. He was exhausted most days and I didn’t really get that then, but the times he said yes were special.

I remember a drive-in once. Some double feature I wanted to see. Just me and him. A documentary about the Bermuda Triangle (yeah, all right, I was a weird kid and never really grew out of it). Then a second movie whose title I can’t remember but which for some reason was a big deal to me at the time. I think it might have been a ‘60s movie and involved a crashed flying saucer. There was a scientist guy and a gorgeous blonde Russian scientist girl (see, I wasn’t entirely weird, girls were goooooodddd). It might have been the first time I saw a girl’s naked back. Believe me, at that age it was a BIG deal. It still kinda is…but, ahem...

Anyway, the guy and the girl ended up together, after discovering the flying saucer taking it on a run through the solar system together. For weeks afterward I would go to sleep thinking about being the pilot of that saucer (and having a hot blonde Russian girl with me!) and visiting all the planets. I would make up adventures in my head, a few not repeatable here. Maybe that helped lead me to my eventual career as a writer. Or maybe I just need to up my meds. Who knows?

But memories that are special to us like that you can’t buy or manufacture. So I guess the point is, if you are a dad or mom with a young child at home…make time for them, no matter what you are doing, or have to do. It doesn’t have to be much time, just do something togther, something that will become a memory when that child is an adult. You just never know, perhaps it will help them through something difficult in their life or perhaps it will give them an anchor when they need it most.

Magic moments aren’t manufactured, they’re grown. So plant a seed.