It's not always easy to communicate with your father, isn't it?
My father, Georges Smal, was a poet. He wrote a few collections in Walloon and French. And poems for children, which I recited while humming.
Last week, as I was leafing through a book dedicated to one of his friends, I read, with great interest, a few pages about my father's life.
There were stories I had no idea about. A whole (huge!) part of his life I had no idea about.
I was so surprised! All I wanted to do was run up to his room and say: "Hey, Pa! But you never told me that!" I wanted to go back in time to swallow his words, wide-eyed, chat with him until dawn, sniffing the smell of his cigar or pipe, which I hated then and miss so much now. Asking him to tell me everything, down to the last detail. To explore his childhood, his youth, his doubts and even his mistakes, his joys too, before I was born.
But when I was young, conversations with my father were rare. And often far too superficial: we were a bit consumed by everyday life. We all were.
What connects us now? And how can I find out? Do I have the same character as him, the same incredible curiosity? Did he express his sadness the way I do, hiding a little to cry? Did we have the same not-so-subtle laugh? I don't know. I can only imagine. And I can barely remember his voice.
It's such a shame, all those lost moments, because we don't talk enough as a family. We don't communicate well. All those conversations avoided. All those unasked questions... It's the past that's fading, our roots that are no longer roots.
Father's Day is just around the corner. So if you've still got yours, make the most of it. He doesn't care about getting a tie, really.
When the Skinooly game came out, I said it made even teenagers talk. In fact, it makes fathers and mothers talk too (especially mine!)
And family communication is like honey: it sticks a little, so it becomes endearing, and then it's delicious.
Of course, you don't have to have Skinooly to communicate.
But at least for Father's Day, get him talking and telling. You'll love it!
Geneviève
Dad, we'll make you talk!