Grieving by the River

Daniel sat on the back porch of our vacation cottage, gently rocking in an old wooden chair as he stared across the quiet river.

"I can't believe that he's gone," Daniel whispered.

“Yeah,” I said softly. "Your dad always believed he was Superman-that he could fight his way though anything.”

Daniel let out a small laugh.

"You got that right."

He kept his eyes on the water.

"This was his favorite place. Every morning when I was a kid, I’d find him sitting right here, looking out at this river.” Daniel added.

"It’s peaceful,” I said. “Something about the water settles your mind.”

A knock came at the door.

"I'll go get it." I said.

I opened the door.

"Uncle Alvin!"

"Hey Regina!" He greeted me with a hug.

Alvin was my father in law's younger brother.

Alvin looked around the cottage.

"I remembered he saved up enough money to buy this cottage. Man, he was so proud."

"Daniel took me here on our first vacation date." I said.

Uncle Alvin shook his head. "Where is Daniel?"

"Out there on the back porch."

Uncle Alvin walked towards the back porch and I followed right behind him.

"Uncle Al!" Daniel said with a smile and with his arms spread wide.

"There's my favorite nephew!"

"What are you doing here?"

"I came around to check up on you. It's been two weeks since your dad left us."

Daniel dropped his head low. "Yeah, I came here to have more connection to him."

"Well your dad loved fishing. It was funny that he didn't like eating fish but he loved catching it." Alvin said with a chuckle.

Daniel chuckled back.

"So if the family was in town he would catch the fish and our mom or your mom would cook it for the others."

"I hated fish." Daniel said.

"Hey, is the boat still in the garage?" Alvin asked.

"Yeah you want to take a look at it?" Daniel said.

"After you."

I watched Daniel and Alvin pull out a wooden fishing boat from the garage onto the freshly cut grass.

"I see his fishing poles and his tackle box." Daniel said.

"Are there any lures?" Alvin opened the box.

Daniel peeked over his shoulder.

"What's this?" Alvin pulls out a picture.

"Oh wow, babe come look at this."

I jumped off the porch and scurried towards them.

It was an old picture of Daniel and his dad.

“I was twelve.” Daniel said.

“How cute babe.”

“Let’s get this boat all cleaned up.” Alvin said.

Moments later all three of us found ourselves in the middle of the lake with our fishing rods in our own corners.

“Did you catch anything Regina?” Alvin asked.

“No, are there still fishes around here?”

Alvin laughed.

“Yeah, these fish didn’t go anywhere.” Alvin said.

Daniel was daydreaming until Alvin spoke at him.

“You good over there Dan?”

“Yes Uncle.”

“What’s on your mind?”

I turned around the same time Daniel did and I saw a tear shed from his eye.

“Why?” Daniel's voice cracked.

“Why what nephew?”

“I wasn't his real son, why did he take me in?”

Alvin let out a deep breath. “Despite everything he loved you like his own flesh and blood just like I love you as my own flesh and blood.”

Daniel told me a story when he was five years old when his mom dropped him off at Alvin’s and his dad’s front porch. Daniel’s dad was a senior in college when he first encountered Alvin. Ms. Johnson took in and cared for Daniel, his dad stepped in to be a father figure to Daniel.

“See we didn’t have a father, ours abandoned us. I remembered when we were kids my brother would always say one day he would be a better father than ours ever will be.”

More tears streamed down Daniel”s face as I walked across the boat to console him.

“I also remembered that night when your mom came back you were ten. Your father and her had a shouting match. Told her that you were his and not giving you up!”

Daniel shook his head.

“Yeah my brother was serious about you. He despised your mother for giving up on you just like our dad did. And before we knew it he legally adopted you. His whole world revolved around you.”

“I really thought he was my real dad. I was heartbroken when he told me the truth.”

“I remembered how he got emotional at your sixth birthday party and you called him dad.”

Daniel broke out in a smile.

“He wanted to give me the world.”

“And he did. He opened a dry cleaning business as well as a car wash. Not too bad for a man under the age of thirty.”

“Every football game he was there, looking exhausted.”

“Yeah and when Deion Sanders had that football camp he made sure that you went every summer!” Alvin said.

“When I got drafted, he cried his heart out. He told me that he put his football dreams on hold to raise me. So I worked hard to be successful and he didn’t even pressure me. I did it as a thank you to him.”

“He was so proud.” Alvin added.

“When I got my first check for the league I surprised him with a 1965 cherry red cadillac.”

“Yes when we were kids he vowed to get that car when he made it in the league.”

“I never missed a summer spending time with him on this boat. We would be on this boat talking about life. I recalled the time when I called dad out to the cottage. We got on the boat and I wanted his advice on how to date you.”

I smiled.

“I’m going to miss him so much.” Daniel said.

“Me too nephew. Let’s honor him the right way!”

“What do you have in mind?”

Daniel docked the boat. I got lunch started as he and Uncle Alvin made their way into the garage.

For the next hour, the sound of wood hititng the floor, the buzz of the saw, and the smell of fresh paint filled the air.

“BABE COME LOOK!”

I walked outside to see Daniel using a sledgehammer to push down the wooden sign into the grass.

LAKE MARCUS

The sign read.

“Oh what an amazing way to honor your dad Daniel.” I said.

Daniel’s hand rested on the new sign.

“I love you dad!”

Daniel stood quietly, a smile breaking through his tears as he looked out over the water that had brought him back to his father one last time.