Daddies and their emotions...

Some profound weekend reflection. Unusually long one from me, but I had to write this out..if you are reading this bear with me...

My neighbor's daughter recently got married..I know the couple fairly well, both of them run a fairly successful business. Have seen their son and daughter to be mostly independent and busy in their own right.

The run up to wedding was hectic but the mood nonetheless celebratory. The hustle and bustle at their home shifted to the wedding venue and a silence descended the house already. The wedding was a grand affair and one that brought together hundreds of family members, friends and acquaintances..

Post the ceremony, the bride was off to the grooms household and my neighbors returned only late that night; I presumed they would be exhausted and didn't engage them in any conversation then.

The next morning, I was leaving home when I saw my neighbor and enquired if things are fine and if he had a comfortable night..he managed a nod but I could notice his eyes well up and in no time saw him break down .. It was apparent that he spent the night coping with the fact that his daughter is not around the house any longer.

The man who I know as a chronic socializer, a loud spoken neighbor and a generally tough individual - was standing there, vulnerable as a father, succumbing to the emotions associated with fatherhood. One that you do not see often, one that is often concealed to the external world. That carefully conditioned toughness of many years was brutally left exposed in that very instant.

I did not know how to respond..for a fleeting few minutes, I vis

ualized myself in the same situation. The two girls at my home will get married - the elder one is not too many years away for that..how would I conduct myself then? How would I manage my emotions? The very thought left me with a lump in my throat..the fleeting minutes certainly didn't spare me the emotional drain. I snapped back to the present..,didn't gather myself to say anything, instead gave my neighbor a warm hug and walked away with moist eyes, a heavy heart and a thoughtful mind.

I still have a few years to live those moments, my neighbor grappled with... but what hit home for me was about how different the emotions of fathers are..from the more explicit emotions mothers are capable of. I fondly remembered my dad, who i bet had his roller coaster of emotions but managed it in a way only fathers can.