Letter To My Son - High School Days- Part 8

This personal story I am drafting will be my gift to my son on his 18th birthday in six months' time, this and a video game because what 18-year-old is looking forward to a very long letter from his dad?

Over the last 18 years, I struggled to be a dad, just like my dad struggled before me. I was very lucky to share lots of time with you in the past, but the divorce changed that.

Now that you are an adult I wanted to tell you my story. A story that I wish my dad had told me. Maybe it's too early right now, but you might enjoy it when you get to be old and sentimental like me.

Click Back to Start with Part 1

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Letter To My Son Part 8

It was the summer of 2022, your mom left for the USA again and you and I walked down the street on our way to go bowling; "Dad, would you mind if I move to the USA?"

Kadeng!!!
Did somebody just hit me with a hammer or what?

In all honesty, I did not see this coming, in my mind, you were still going to Uni in Granada. On the other hand, I knew you would be traveling the world at an early age, so it was not a total surprise.

I always planned to support you in going to University, be it in Granadad or Murcia. But the States? Dude, I don´t have the cash for that.

So that was the first thing I said, "I am fine if you want to go there, but I can´t pay for University."

Maybe not the best answer in the world, but that was what came to mind. Then we started talking about studying vs working and your take on that subject was that you wanted to start working and make your own money.

When I grew up that was not really a choice, I was expected to study and with the economic climate back then it was the only logical choice...or so they said.

Nowadays the world has turned, and we are beyond that point. I am fine with both, as long as you are able to do something that gives you that feeling of fulfillment. And of course, that feeling does not last a lifetime, I am paying for it right now.

Being a DJ and working in a bar gave me fulfillment I did not miss a single day of work in six years. It cost me deeply because once that door closed I needed to open a door to a corporate lifestyle, a job that made me money but never gave me the same fulfillment.

I got my fulfillment from being able to provide for you, ensuring I could have your back if you ever needed me to.

That job was a means to an end, and the end was you and along the way, I picked up an old hobby of mine, which was writing. That also gave me something that I felt was with doing.

That is pretty much how I tried to get the best out of life, of course, you can do better. If you can find a way to pay the bills and at the same time get that fulfillment and create the opportunities to keep growing you beat your dad at this game called life.

But for now, I think I did pretty well you could have had a worse role model.

But back to the question;

You moving to the USA, I have to admit it it kept hunting me for the next couple of weeks. I gave it a place, as I expected you to finish your school and then at the earliest leave for the US next summer.

Another wise lesson I can give you; never assume it makes an Ass out of U & Me.

Because three months later I was asked to sign a note that you and the dog could go on holiday to the US. Now that I have to sign for you is one thing, but for the dog....that weird barking piece of fluff, why was it still in my name??? What if anything would have happened with you guys, they would have made me take care of it???

I am already taking care of your other dog, this one;

But I am letting myself get distracted.

We talked about how this would impact your school, what kind of things were put in place to ensure you would not miss too much. Because you told me you would go for about three months, now this was the second time you had to do this year so I agreed that you should know most of it. And I could see how with some extra tasks, and re-examination once you returned you could make up for the missed time.

So if the school agreed, and there was a plan, I was sort of okay with it.

Although, it did not feel right. The answers I was getting were just too fluffy, and I wondered if those teachers would have gotten those same fluffy answers.

My gut feeling was right, although I must say I did not expect this.

I did not expect a colleague to tell me that your mom got married over there. Now I also did not expect you to tell me, because I can see that might feel a bit awkward.

So what did I expect, well I think in this scenario I would expect your mom to fill me in. To tell me that she plans to get married during this trip and that it might cause you to not come back to Spain at all.

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Thank you for reading.

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