Broken Promise

To my son Tommy,

Friday morning, the Downey family was slow to wake up and slow to move.  Being the head of household (when Mommy lets me be) I made an executive decision and declared that Saturday morning is a sleep in day.  I decreed that upon your waking you would come into Mommy and Daddy's bed and snuggle up.  We would put on a movie or some cartoons and Daddy would go out and get some donuts or such and we would do breakfast in bed.  You decided that donuts were not going to be to your liking so we let you choose what you would like.  Your choice was pasta.  For breakfast?  Being that this was a special treat day, if you wanted pasta for breakfast, you were going to get pasta for breakfast.  We were going to see just how long we could last without really getting up.  You were pretty excited about this promise.

I take my promises seriously, so it comes as no surprise that I take breaking my promises very seriously.  It was one of the first things on my mind when we decided to take your mother to the emergency room.  Even through the worry and the chaos and all the stuff going on, one of my first thoughts was that I had promised you this breakfast in bed snuggle-fest.  I knew it wasn't going to happen and that hurt my heart.  I told you honestly and tried to explain.  You seemed to understand and let me off the hook.

There are times in your life that you will end up having to break a promise.  Some things are just more important and your mother's health trumps all previous engagements.  That is why it is so important that you keep as many promises as you can.  Only then will people realize that you are a man of your word and that if you have to break a promise there must be a darn good reason.

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo