The father of man.

I try hard but fail to understand what tickles him to laugh so much. How a simple gesture becomes a game and goes on and on till something new and fascinating comes up.

I watch this one and a half year old run up and down the tiny passage knowing so well that he can’t hide, but he tries. I find him and pretend that it was such a task and we laugh, like we have never laughed before.

Minutes vanish into hours and I don’t know how my time goes by playing pretentious games with him.
Games that he believes are true. The two fingers walking towards him to tickle him are actual people, the spider man doll that speaks, and the tiny aeroplane that lands on imaginary airports.

He has all the time in the world and he uses it wisely. He dreams and imagines. He makes stories and pictures in his mind that have no limit and no time.

He laughs from his stomach and smiles from his heart. His laughter fills my ear and my heart with so much love that sometimes it’s hard to fathom.

He knows so much more than me and explains the meaning of life in gibberish that I can only pretend to understand. So that’s what I do. I nod and pretend because that’s what I have learnt to do.

I don’t know where to start to learn from this little man, who unknowingly shows me everything I am missing in my life.
We dance, and for the first time in years I dance without being conscious of who is looking at me and how bad a dancer I am. We do crazy steps and laugh and fall, get up again and dance.

He comes and he hugs me just out of the blue, gives me a smile and walks away...
I wonder about the last time I ‘just’ hugged someone and I can’t remember. I walk after him to cuddle him and give him a million kisses.

There is so much to learn....