WHAT I WANT FOR CHRISTMAS?

I want to listen. I want you to tell me about your friends. I want to see you with your Australian cousins. I want to see you smile.

What do I want for Christmas? I want you to tell me about your part-time job. Your worries. Your hopes. Your dreams. Your nightmares. Your classes. I want to meet your best friend & tell “Dad” jokes.

I want you to share your life with me. I want you to complain about the hikes we share. Laugh with me. Laugh at me. Hearing you laugh is music to my ear.

What do I want for Christmas? I want you to be part of the solution. Wear a mask & social-distance. I want you to be an activist, or an athlete, or a poet, or a unicorn. I want you to roll your eyes at me if you don’t like my advice. I don’t care, I just want to be with you.

I want you to spend your money making a better life for you. I want to take you shopping for new running shoes & a backpack. I want to sit beside you on a flight to the Pyrenees Mountains. I want to eat tapas & drink wine with you in Toledo.

What do I want for Christmas? I want to see you happy & healthy. I want to see you kneeling beside your Nandee’s Xmas tree in Melbourne. I want to run the trails of Hong Kong with you then sip coffee at an outdoor café & listen to you. I always want to be there for you. That’s what I want for Christmas.

Dad… XoXo