The "I Love You" Incident...
Tuesday
14th September 1999, will go down in my memory as one of THOSE
days - why? Read on.....
Those of you who know me will already be aware
that I am a father to two boys, neither of whom I live with, -
one of them, Jack (pictured right) was the catalyst for this tale!
Around two weeks prior to the above date, I was
out on my semi-regular access day with Jack, when for no particular
reason (not that you need one) I told him that I loved him. I
was surprised when he responded with "Love you too"
- you have to understand that, while his speech is becoming more
developed on an almost daily basis, there is still a healthy dose
of the parrot effect involved.
The next week, I said it again, but this time,
he just looked down, smiled, then proceeded to punch me in the
shoulder! - I tried again a couple of times during the day, but
never got the response I suppose I was looking for.
When I took him home that evening, I asked Steff,
his mother, about it, and she simply said that he had stopped,
for no apparent reason, and wouldn't respond to anyone with a
"Love you too!" Then, today (14/9/99) when I told him
again that I loved him, I got the now typical shy look, so I then
asked him why he wouldn't say "I love you" any more,
and he just said that he didn't know.
I then said that it was nice to say it, that
I liked it, and that I was sure that Steff, his mother, and Evelyn,
his maternal Grandmother also liked it. He seemed to think about
this for a moment, then announced that he wanted out of his Buggy
(stroller to you ppl across the pond), so I removed the straps,
and let him out - then he asked for a cuddle, so I picked him
up, and held him, as ordered, and he whispered "I love you"
into my ear.
Words cannot begin to describe how that made
me feel, as I stood there, 5'10", and a little over 200 lbs,
with a pair of extremely wet eyes (actually similar to the ones
looking at the monitor as I type this). For the first time since
he, or his half brother, Dominic, were born, I truly knew what
the phrase "It's worth all the effort" meant.
Colin M. Ormsby
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