White collared shirt

Every day the man returned home, sweat on his brow, tie on his neck. The man came back, sad, exhausted, happy, mad. His joys and sorrows he kept to himself and so did she.

The two of them were a pair, facing the world. Although many troubles piled up, they stayed together. Not all of the journey was easy, the promise made when they were young was a long time ago. The passion and intimacy sanded and forged by time. It seemed so fragile, breaking those chains and seeking freedom. However, they both agreed to stick to each other.

Life it seemed was difficult and rocky, but they were lucky that they had each other.

They were not perfect, he was definitely the weaker of the two, but she forgave him for she couldn't stay mad for long without getting mad at herself. There were moments weeks and months that anger would last, but those moments passed and they continued on.

For all his faults, his miscommunication, his anger and disregard, she stayed. There were times where she was angry, upset or sad, things she could never share with him. However as weak as the relationship was strained and tested, they made it through.

Watching them, the boy tried his best to ignore the bad moments, locking them up somewhere and forgetting them. So did the other two that watched as well.

The boy watched as the man sat at his computer, getting lost in the entertainment and movies. The man just trying to make it the next day. There were times where it was hard for the man, it felt like the days would break him. However painful the days were, they were brighter than his past.

The man had suffered much and it seemed peaceful. Their days were not full of sorrows, their misfortunes were overcome. Compared to others their wealth was quite substantial, if not monetarily then in happiness.

The boys pair of eyes watched as the man was yelled at, sometimes the burden was too much and his anger come out. So the same habits of anger and restraint were passed on, and so was both his and her compassion.

Other times the man angered the little ones, words of hate and anger coming out at the wrong moment. He was hurt, that much could be seen to the boy. However, both the man and woman were people the boy loved. They loved him back and that was enough.

Each of them had their own struggles, words they couldn't say to one another, moments they kept to themselves.

To the boy however, he was intimately familiar that the number of times they'd get to meet were limited, probably not much more than 99 more times. Those opportunities to see each other decreasing one by one. However if he had to chose, he'd probably make the same decisions, for he would lament that he didn't spend his youth wisely.

Now they both had a white collared shirt, the boy received one from them. Ordinary, inexpensive, mass produced, and under used. He hugged the man, for anything that he wanted to say had already been said before.

"Thanks Dad", he said to him.

"I love you to kiddo", the man hugged him back tightly.