Father, son’s growing pains

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another Cecil’s World in Print. The older I get, the more I know how precious time is with your family. I now appreciate every moment I can with my family. When my son was growing up, I tried to be there for all of his sports and I was there for most of them, but I missed some because I had to work. I was a young reporter making a name for myself and being the best was what I wanted and sometimes I neglected my family.

Have you ever heard the song by Harry Chapin, “Cats in the Cradle?” It tells a story about how a father was too busy for his son when he was growing up, but then it tells about how the father, when he gets older, has time for his son but his son is too busy. At the end of the song, the father says “ ... it occurred to me, he’d grown up just like me, my boy was just like me.” This e-mail I received the other day made me think about that. There are some variations to this story, but here’s one of them:

“A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

“‘Daddy, may I ask you a question?’

“‘Yeah sure, what is it?’

“‘Daddy, how much do you make an hour?’

“‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.

“‘I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?’ pleaded the little boy.

“‘If you must know, I make $20 an hour.’

“‘Oh,’ the little boy replied, with his head down. Looking up, he said, ‘Daddy, may I please borrow $10?’

“The father was furious. ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. I work long hard hours every day and don’t have time for such childish behavior.’

“The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door. After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down, and started to think he may have been a little hard on his son. Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $10. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door.

“‘Are you asleep, son?’ he asked.

“‘No, Daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy

“‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on your earlier,’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day, and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s that $10 you asked for.’

“The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you, Daddy!’ he yelled. Then reaching under his pillow he pulled out some money. The man, seeing that the boy already had money, started to get angry again.

“‘The little boy slowly counted out his money, ‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled.

“‘Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the little boy replied. ‘Daddy, I have $35 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.’”

It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts.

That’s it for another Cecil’s World in Print. Just remember, if we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family and friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives. See you next week, right here in the Morning News and on the tube.

— Cecil Chandler is a veteran reporter at WBTW News13. His column appears Mondays in the Morning News.