Hot off the printing press is a cautionary tale I shared on my socials that I figured would also benefit Legionnaires whether you have brats kiddies or not.
Fair warning, though:
It might choke you a little.
(I know it did me as I wrote it.)
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"Why doesn’t Dad play with me anymore?"
I overheard my 8-year-old son ask my wife one evening as I sat in my office, drowning in emails, projections, and plans. His voice was small, uncertain, but most troubling of all… sad.
My wife hesitated. "He’s just busy, sweetheart. He’s working hard for us."
That was true. Every late night, every weekend at my desk, every missed bedtime story—I was building an empire for them. Something bigger than myself; something that would make sure we’d never have to struggle again.
“One day,” I vowed. “When the business is thriving, I’ll have all the time in the world.”
But “one day” has a way of arriving too late.
Last week, my son packed up his car and left for college. As I stood in the driveway watching him pull away, I felt something I hadn’t expected.
Emptiness.
The house was quieter. My office, the fortress I had chained myself to for too many years, had the same hollowness that lurked inside me. The press releases, the awards adorning my walls, suddenly seemed meaningless.
And then it hit me…
All the bedtime stories I had skipped out on to work late?
They had an expiration date.
The backyard football games I had put off?
He stopped asking a long time ago.
Talks about girls, careers, and aspirations that mark the end of a child and the beginning of a man finding his place in the world?
Never had.
I thought I was building a future for my family. But really, my family was the future I was supposed to be building.
That night, I sat at the dinner table across from my wife, the love of my life who had supported me in every decision I made, and asked her a question she seemed to know was brewing:
"How do we get the time back?"
She just smiled sadly and reached for my hand.
“Honey, we don’t."
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“Damn onions!” I wipe the lone tear zig-zagging down my cheek.
If you found value in this story, feel free to write me back.
If you enjoy emotionally charged moments like this in your stories, then you’ll find plenty of them in The Divided Region. Just be prepared to have some tissues at hand.
And if you happen to prefer reading your books via audio, I now stock those, too.
To hear a preview, go here:
https://djjwatsonstore.com/products/divided-region-starter-bundle
DJJW