When Jaxon Layne was born, it struck me quite profoundly that I was roughly the same age that my Dad was when I was born. It offered a greater glimpse of understanding into how my father operated when my brother and I were kids, and of course that perspective was missing as we were growing up – a rather unfair thing for all parties involved. What could he possibly have made of a new baby in his mid-to-late 40’s? He had already set his ways in strict and organized fashion as any proper Virgo would have done by that age. My arrival, and the strange child I would prove to be, no doubt disrupted the regimented existence he has crafted for himself. To his credit he never loved me any less for it.
I will keep that in mind as I step up my godfathering; I tend to hang out in the background for now, as I did with the twins when they were this young, watching him from a distance. It’s a wonder to witness as he navigates his way in the world, and it calls back to my childhood, returning me to days with my Dad and my Mom, in the same house, in the same rooms, with the same slant of afternoon light…
