There is a teenage boy who might have told me he didn’t want to hear another story.
A kid who might have rolled his eyes when his father looked him in the eye and said he had lived a pretty full life long before kids came into his life.
Said kid might have cringed a bit when his father whispered in his ear, “I graduated from elementary, junior high, high school and college before you came into this world.
I knew what it was to have my heart broken and to be in love. Knew what it meant to support myself and did a million other things. One day you will too, but until then I still know things you don’t.”
Yelling At Your Reflection
And during this conversation this imaginary father might have smiled and said he understood how frustrating it was to feel like you were screaming at your reflection.
He might have said in a soft voice that he remembered when he stood on the other side of this particular sort of conversation and that it wasn’t any better or easier there either.
It was just different.
And then he might have smiled because he knew it just didn’t matter and that some people are going to do what they are going to do because they have to experience it for themselves.
That hard head wasn’t created out of nothing, now was it.
And as he walked away he made a point to say he was still learning and that there were still lots of moments when life surprised him and made him wonder what the hell just happened.
Long after midnight had passed all that was left was the quiet of the night and the busy hum of a mind that was still thinking about it all.
That imaginary father walked outside and looked up for the moon not because he was searching for answers because he already knew what he intended to do but because the evening sky felt soothing.
Too much time online could lead you to believe that the world was filled with nothing but anger and chaos and that simply isn’t true.
He let his imagination wander and thought about boarding a tall ship that would take him on any number of adventures.
And then he laughed because he remembered he was already in the midst of a great adventure and that within a few months there would be new chapters to add to the list of adventures he had already experienced.
The Beatles were definitely right about a bunch of things, not the least of which is that life on a whole is just another love story.
Larry
So, is this the story you told that teenage boy?
Joshua Wilner
Something like that.