When I was growing up I do not recall hearing the words I love you from my father. When your father never says them to you when you are a child, it gets tougher and tougher for him to say those words as he gets older. To tell the truth, I could not honestly remember when I had last said those words to him either. I decided1 to set my ego2 aside and make the first move. After some hesitation3, in our next phone conversation I blurted4 out the words, Dad I love you!
There was a silence at the other end and he awkwardly replied, Well, same back at ya!
I chuckled5 and said, Dad, I know you love me, and when you are ready, I know you will say what you want to say.
Fifteen minutes later my mother called and nervously6 asked, Paul, is everything okay?
A few weeks later, Dad concluded our phone conversation with the words, Paul, I love you. I was at work during this conversation and the tears were rolling down my cheeks as I finally heard the love. As we both sat there in tears we realized that this special moment had taken our father/son relationship to a new level.
A short while after this special moment, my father narrowly escaped death following heart surgery. Many times since, I have pondered the thought, if I did not take the first step and Dad did not survive the surgery, I would have never heard the love.
电话的那端沉默了一阵，然后他有的害臊地说：呃，我也爱你！
我轻声地笑了起来，说：父亲，我了解你爱我，我了解当你筹备好时，你就会把想说的话告诉我。
一刻钟后，母亲打电话过来，有的紧张地问：保罗，所有都怎么样？
几个星期过后，父亲在挂电话前说了句保罗，我爱你。打电话的时候我还在上班，在终于听到爱的声音后，我的泪水顺着脸颊流了下来。因为大家两人都坐在那儿泪流满面，大家了解这特别的时刻使大家的父子关系达到一种新境界。
这个特别时刻刚过不久，父亲就进行了心脏手术，不过幸免于难。从那将来，我时常仔细回味，假如我没走出第一步，假如父亲的手术没成功，我就再没机会听到爱的声音了。
