The First Cut is the Deepest

Sunday is a day I won't soon forget. Seth...You took a spill down the stairs at Miss Jodie's house and split a big gash in your cheek. It was nasty. Mom & Jodie took you to the emergency room and I drove like a madman down from our house. When I got there I wasn't prepared for what I saw. You were screaming in pain as three people were trying to hold you down while the doctor gave you shots on the cut to numb it. Oh man...not my boy. I tried to console you and assure you that this would be over soon but the combination of fear and pain was too strong for you to calm down. I laid down across your body to help hold you down. I held your hands and urged you to squeeze them as hard as you could. Take it out on me. I'll take all the pain you want to transfer to me. That's what a dad does. It took forever, or so it seemed. I can say without reservation that this was one of the more horrible experiences I have ever had in my life. You'll understand it one day when you have kids of your own. Their pain is your pain. Your pain was most certainly my pain. The doctor finally got you stitched up. My story from here on out will be that it was my piercing glare at the doctor that got him to do such a good job. It was a “Sew my son's face wrong and I'll rip your throat out” stare. Your dad can tend to be a bit intense in these situations.

You came through it like a trooper. A sweaty, exhausted trooper, but a trooper nonetheless. By the next morning you had your strength back and except for the black eye and swelling seemed to be your old self. Gonna take more than that to slow you down. Plus I think it sank in that chicks dig scars.

In the scheme of your life this event will prove insignificant more than likely. You will have so many things that are more important and unfortunately, sometimes more painful. But to me, it's something that will stay with me. I can't describe the feeling in any way except “Please God, make it stop.” I love you, my son, with all that I am. Always will, unconditionally. Scars and all.

Headline from "The First Cut is the Deepest" by Rod Stewart, 1977 (originally by Cat Stevens, 1967)