The Board Meeting had come to an end. Bob started to stand up
and jostled the table, spilling his coffee over his notes.
"How
embarrassing. I am getting so clumsy in my old age."
Everyone had a good laugh, and soon we were all telling stories
of our most embarrassing
moments. It came around to Frank who
sat quietly listening to the others. Someone said, "Come on, Frank.
Tell us your most embarrassing moment."
Frank laughed and began to tell us of his childhood.
"I grew up in San Pedro. My Dad was a fisherman, and he loved
the sea. He had his own boat, but it was hard making a
living on the sea. He worked hard and would stay out until
he
caught enough to
feed the family. Not just enough for our family,
but also for his Mom and Dad and the other kids that
were still at home."
He looked at us and said, "I wish you could have met my Dad.
He was a big man, and he was strong from pulling the nets and
fighting the seas for his catch. When you got
close to him, he smelled like the ocean.
He would wear his old canvas, foul-weather coat and his bibbed overalls.
His rain hat would be pulled down over his brow. No matter how much my
Mother washed them, they
would still smell of the sea and of fish."
Frank's
voice dropped a bit. "When the weather was bad he would
drive
me to school. He had this old truck that he used in his fishing
business. That truck was older than he was. It would wheeze and rattle
down the road. You could hear it coming for blocks. As he would drive
toward the school, I would shrink down into the
seat hoping to disappear.
Half the time, he would slam to a stop and the old truck would
belch a cloud of smoke. He would pull right up in front, and
it seemed
like everybody would be standing around and watching.
Then he would lean over and give me a big kiss
on the cheek and tell me to be a good boy.
It was so embarrassing for me. Here, I was twelve years old,
and my Dad would lean over and kiss me goodbye!"
He paused and then went
on, "I remember the day I decided I was
too old for a goodbye kiss. When we got to the school
and came to a stop, he had his usual big smile. He started to lean
toward me, but I put my hand up and said, 'No, Dad.'
It was the first time I had ever talked to him that way, and he
had this surprised look on his face.
I said, 'Dad, I'm too old for a goodbye kiss. I'm too old for
any kind of kiss.'
My Dad looked at me for the longest time, and his eyes started to
tear up. I had never seen him cry. He turned and looked out the
windshield.
"You're right," he said. "You are a big boy....a man.
I won't
kiss you anymore."
Frank got a funny look on his face, and the tears began to well
up in his eyes, as he spoke. "It wasn't long after
that when my Dad went to sea and never came back.
It was a day when most of the fleet stayed in, but not Dad.
He had a big family to feed. They found his boat adrift with
its nets half in and half out. He must have gotten
into a gale and was trying to save the nets and the floats."
I looked at Frank and saw that tears were running down his cheeks.
Frank spoke again. "Guys, you don't know what I would give
to have my
Dad give me just one more kiss on the cheek....to feel his rough
old
face....to smell the ocean on him....to feel his arm around my neck.
Iwish I had been a man then. If I had been a man, I would never
have told my Dad I was too old for a goodbye kiss."