As a teenager I found it difficult to carry a conversation with my father. He was good at instruction, correction and giving orders. In fairness he would also offer his acknowledgment when I made him proud. What I wanted from him was his inner man. The man that felt and thought. The man that failed and succeeded. The man that might give a glimp’s of himself to his son.
Of course I didn’t have these words or the understanding at 16 of my fathers inner man, but what I did have was the uneasiness and the feeling that something was wrong when he and I would ride down the road in his old farm fresh pick up truck choked in silence. Is this what it means to be a man I remember thinking? Keep it in and don’t let anyone see?
What is your son thinking to himself sitting with you in the silence? What are you willing to reveal?