1 of 1

Hey Dad,

First of all, let me apologize for last week's Familyman Weekly. I sure didn't want it to sound harsh, but it was an emotional week. First, there were the crying wives on the radio, then news about three dads whose children are seriously ill, and finally my son, Ike (6), lost his pirate tooth.

About four years ago, Ike bashed his mouth on the fireplace, and one of his upper front teeth was damaged and turned black. What made it worse was the way he smiles for photographs. He does this weird smile where he curls back his upper lip making him look like a big, blond-headed rodent, exposing his dead tooth. It was so obvious that I tried to distract him when he looked at pictures of himself.

Then, one day he pointed to a picture of himself and the black tooth and said, "Neat, you can see my pirate tooth." After that, he and I proudly referred to his tooth as the pirate tooth. That was … sniff, sniff … until last week when he lost it. The tooth sits on my dresser in a plastic baggy. I'm going to frame it along with a picture of Ike smiling his rodent smile and put it above my dresser.

Every time I see the tooth in the bag, I feel a lump rise in my throat. I project myself 40 years into the future standing beside my dresser looking at a faded picture of Ike and his pirate tooth. I'll miss that little rodent smile and energetic boy with his pirate tooth.

Then, I'll remember how Katherine used to sit in the chair in our bedroom and read out loud to herself, how Abe would traipse around in his skin-tight Superman underwear, and how Sam would wag his tongue and make this really loud, goofy noise. I'll wish then that I could go back and experience one of those times again … but I won't be able to.

We dads get one shot at enjoying today. That's it. In 24 hours, today will be gone … forever. So that explains my urgency in last week's email and why I write so passionately. I know that what we have today can be taken away from us just like that (snap).

So Dad, wring every ounce of today out of … today, like water from a towel. Don't waste it on TV, working late, or something that won't matter. Spend it on … THEM.

You 'da dad!

© Copyright 2005 Todd Wilson. Used by permission.

 1 of 1

share this page

				Try an Issue of Men of Integrity Free! Name Street Address City/State/Zip E-mail Address No credit card required. Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery. Offer valid in U.S. only. Click here for International orders. If you decide you want to keep Men of Integrity coming, honor your invoice for just $19.95 and receive five more issues, a full year in all. If not, simply write "cancel" across the invoice and return it. The trial issue is yours to keep, regardless. Give Men of Integrity as a gift Buy 1 gift subscription, get 1 FREE!

FREE Newsletter Sign up for the Men of Integrity Newsletter (All fields required)    RSS Feed   RSS Help