While my stepdad placed his stuff into the truck,
I wanted to say so many things.
That I’d miss the baseball games and his ghost stories.
I wanted to thank him for remembering my birthdays
when my dad and sometimes even Mom forgot.
I wanted him to know that, though Mom was cleaning all
evidence of him from the apartment,
I had one of his bottle caps in my pocket
and would never forget him.
Most of all I wanted to tell him I loved him.
But when he came back
and hugged me for the last time
all I said was,
“Bye”.
You have to wonder how many readers have experienced a similar scenario involving the sudden departure of a stepfather surrogate. Nicely done!
Aw, thanks for this comment, Mark. (Also, you’ll be happy to know that you’re the first commenter on this blog! No one can take that away from you.)
Hopefully the first of many…