The following is from one of the recent additions to my “Top Ten Favorite Books Ever”, a list that defines the number ten rather loosely. The book is “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” by Jonathan Safran Foer. Warner Bros. adapted the book into a movie, and it’s really lovely, but a film adaptation can not do the book justice. Get the book. Read it. Then, if you want, check out the DVD: Max Von Sydow gives one of the most moving performances I have ever seen.
Thomas Horn and Tom Hanks in “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close”
The child the story centers around is trying to navigate the grief of losing his father, and his father is one of the good ones, so the loss is mammoth, and it would seem to be an unbearable pain, but for the bravery his father instilled in the boy: he shows his children what wonders are in the world, and then gives them the courage to go meet them. He showed his son these mysteries through love, and stories:
Dad always used to tuck me in, and he’d tell the greatest stories, and we’d read the New York Times together, and sometimes he’d whistle “I am the Walrus” because that was his favorite song, even though he couldn’t explain what it meant, which frustrated me. One thing that was so great was how he could find a mistake in every single article we looked at. Sometimes they were grammar mistakes, sometimes they were mistakes with geography or facts, and sometimes the article just didn’t tell the whole story. I loved having a dad that was smarter than the New York Times, and I loved how my cheek could feel the hairs on his chest through his t-shirt, and how he always smelled like shaving, even at the end of the day. Being with him made my brain quiet. I didn’t have to invent a thing.
“Dad, could you tell me a story?”
“Yeah.”
The moment before he started was my favorite moment.
If you are a parent, and especially if you are a father, tell your children a story…you have no idea what wealth you are bestowing.
Happy Father’s Day.