I dunno which one it it. All I know is that when I saw it, my eyes welled up. I sent a link to my mom, my friend Sherry. my sister, my buddy Mike and my brother.

Every one of ‘em either e-mailed me back or called to say how it moved them. Wet their eyes or made ‘em cry.

My brother said to me over the phone, “Wow.”

My mom said, “You can’t help but wonder, what’s on Earl’s mind in that picture. Is he saying, “Man, a baby. Sigh! What have I got here? Funny lookin’ little thing. Sure hope he don’t mess up. Just stay healthy, baby…hope I can raise you right.”

And then I thought of what Earl Woods must have thought when he saw that picture over the last seven years or so.

“Wow. Look at him now. I can’t believe I was thinking about how nasty my shirt felt that day with that boy drooling all over it.” (Because that’s the kind of idle thought that goes through a dad’s head in a benign moment like that.) “But lord I loved that little drooling monster.”

You can see the love there. In daddy’s stillness and in baby’s total relaxation. The love’s really all it ever needs to be about, ain’t it?

I’m misty eyed looking at the pic again, now.

Thanks you for posting it–it’s the simplest and most powerful tribute I’ve seen.

Best,
Old School

RIP.