Father of The Millennium

No one in the entire world could emulate the joy I had when my family moved from Hopewell, Virginia to Chester, Virginia. You would have thought 6 year-old Jonathan had won a lifetime supply of Tostitos. I was ecstatic, enthusiastic, energetic, ergh, and ebullient. I thought we were rich. I mean I had my own room and my own bike, who were you to tell me otherwise?

My dad was an intimidating man. 6'3, built like a UPS truck, and had a calm/demanding presence about him. Almost all of my friends were plain afraid him growing up. I don't think anyone ever gave me a valid reason. Maybe because he didn't smile much or act like the black version of Phil Hartman. But most of my friends didn't deserve a smile from him.

My pops had the task of being a husband, brother, son, game warden of 2 sons, and whatever the heck Denzel Washington did in Antoine Fisher. I was always in awe of him, as he worked in the medical field and had to navigate filling all of these roles while being a black man in the south from the 50s through 2000s. And of course had to figure out whatever I was doing. But that's a lot of technology, a lot of assassinations, a lot of hugs and kisses and people and moving. And not only did he roll with it but he modified himself every decade to at least try and understand what was coming at him next.

The connection between my dad and I was never clear to me. I knew he loved me a lot and whenever I called out "Dad!" he would say "Yes, son?" and he had back no matter what. Whether it be me quitting the basketball team senior year or me needing to bounce off ideas about relocating or coming out to him, he processed things and let go of ideals that were obsolete. 

But sometimes I did not know if he liked me very much. Maybe it was for the same reason my friends wanted to hide under the covers when he came around. I know to this day if my 60-something father who is a cancer survivor and I got into a fight, I will revert back to when I was 8 because I still have a fear that he can whoop my hind-parts. But it is vital to understand my father and I have these talks to work on our relationship and we have these check ins. This is essentially who I want to be and if we have an issue, we have known each other for, like, ever, so we are going to figure out something. The last thing I ever want from anyone is to feel like they are in the dark.

To my dad, I was always be Jonathan. To my dad, I will always be his son.