I’ve had something of a strange week. I had a row with a dead piece of technology, after my laptop passed away of – possibly – old age. I could be wrong, however; it might just have stopped working for no other reason than to plague me. I yelled it at it for a few minutes until I felt a little better, so that helped.
After buying a new one – and spending twenty minutes wondering if I could claim the cost of it back on my tax return – another topic arrived front and centre that promises to take over my immediate future. I’m planning to move – just within Thanet; why on Earth would I want to leave Home? – and this time, I’m doing it with a son in tow.
I’ve moved before, of course (a couple more times than I’d entirely like), but this time I’m doing it with another person. The best way I’ve found to deal with it is to involve Bryan as much as possible; he’s already quoting facts and figures from Zoopla back to me like a long-experienced estate agent, and is measuring up his bedroom to ensure that the new place is an upgrade in terms of square footage.
There’s a lot more to coordinate this time around; I need to make sure that not only am I doing alright with everything, so is Bryan. He’s experienced a few moves in his life, so I want to make this one effective and long-lasting; wherever we end up will be for the long-term. It’s lovely to see him so excited by moving, and I confess to being excited as well; where we live now was chosen by me with Bryan in mind, but this time around he can join in and be part of it all.
In the meantime, however, I have introduced Bryan to Star Wars. I’m beginning to think that I’m raising a bit of a sci-fi / fantasy fan; I can but hope. He’s really absorbed all three of the classic films, and I’ve been peppered with questions all the way through – and I have to be really careful to know where we are in the series so that I don’t give anything away.
The second film reveals a big secret about Darth Vader that I won’t mention in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past thirty years and it completely passed you by – but seeing Bryan react to that was brilliant. I’ve completely forgotten what it felt like to have that reveal for the first time, and it’s probably the same for all big surprises in fiction; we have re-read or re-watch these books and films as often as we want, but we can never regain the emotional punch of that first time.
There are so many significant experiences I’m yet to share with Bryan, purely because we’ve not got round to them or because the time isn’t yet right. Being a dad is a sheer pleasure, even when it’s exhausting, and to be the one who gets to share a lot of experiences with my son is a privilege I hope never to forget.
That said, I’m writing this in the early hours of Sunday morning, and I thought I heard movement from Bryan’s bedroom. I wonder if I can just get five minutes to have a drink before the door creaks open and a little voice calls out, “Morning, Dad!” Dad; the best title I’ll ever have.