Matthew Aaron (pictured at the age of 3), an aspiring Husband, Daddy, Grandpa, Great-Grandpa... A Patriarch
Allow me to share a very personal conversation that my brother Matthew (then age 3) and I had which I recorded and wrote for my father four years ago...
It is common for Matthew, with his upturned brown eyes studying my face, to ask, "Woren," you will tell us a poem tonight and rub my back...won't you?" One day that precious little face won't say, "Woren," it instead will say "Lauren," or I won't look down into those sweet brown eyes, but I will look up. I will not always recite poems to my little brothers before bed; one day they will be grown men with little ones pleading for stories or poems.
Matthew and Daniel's favorite poem is The Patriarch. The little boys will say their favorite lines with me filling in the rest. The grandest part for both boys is the last line when they join in together to say, "There is none so great as he who finds his call as patriarch."
When Matthew hugs me goodnight, he whispers in my ear, "And one day I will be a patriarch, too...like Daddy, won't I?" I answer, "Yes, Matthew, if the Lord wills, you will be a wonderful patriarch just like Daddy." "And I'll have many children, too...won't I?" he asks. "That is our prayer for you, Matthew."
This type of conversation is common. He wants to know if someday he will have a home, or if his little children will come running out of his home to his truck when he will arrive home from work. In several decades I can imagine him being just like you!
