He had my back

Father-son relationships are fraught but Dad and I got along pretty well, at least once I reached the age where your parents start getting smarter.  I knew that he always had my back and I relied on that more than I realized.  Even though he long ago ceased being the enforcer/protector, he understood the world well (especially organizations) and gave good advice.  Most of all, he cared.

I expected grief and loss when he died.  What I didn't expect was how naked my back suddenly felt, like the cold breeze on my face when I shave my beard off in the spring.

Irony

Shortly after the preceding post,  The one time my father was right, my father entered his final illness. He died in late May. 


The title of the previous post was a bit misleading. The point of the post was that this was the one time that something he said penetrated my teenage know-it-all defensive shield.  I figure that my relatively sparing use of salt over the last 30-plus years is why I don't have blood pressure problems in spite of being middle-aged, overweight and overstressed.

Dad was right about a lot of things and I wish I had listened more earlier.