Started reading a short story by Ray Bradbury in one of his collections, a story I hadn't read before.
Got halfway into it and had to stop.
It hit me hard. As hard as anything I've read in years.
Went outside and sat by myself, thinking about my early life.
In the story, a wife and son deal with the absence and return of the husband/father from many trips
in space.
Like the main character, my dad would return from his many trips riding ships.
Us boys would grill him about what he saw and the places he visited.
When he was home for the short stays, he would jump into fixing everything broke, trying to show interest
in what us boys were up to and taking us on trips.
We could always tell when he was getting ready to 'ship out' again, as mom would make all his favorite foods.
While he was gone, my mom would tell us, ' Don't mess with that, Dad will fix it when he gets home...'
I know he missed being with us, but in the back of our minds, we knew the call of the sea was just as strong.
Ray Bradbury paints a much better picture than I can describe.
A short passage from the story.
“Don’t ever be a Rocket Man.”
I stopped.
“I mean it,” he said. “Because when you’re out there you want to be here,
and when you’re here you want to be out there. Don’t start that. Don’t let it
get hold of you.”
“But-"
“You don’t know what it is. Every time I’m out there I think, If I ever get
back to Earth I’ll stay there; I’ll never go out again. But I go out, and guess I’ll always go out.”
Guess I'm just feeling bad I didn't listen to him and spent so much time away from my family.
Sorry for the long post in the book thread.
