What will I tell Micah in November?

Micah's golf pose, at his first golf lesson with his Daddy this week.

A very common question I get is “what will you tell Micah when Leon is gone?” I haven’t really been too worried about that because, Micah is only 2 and I’m thinking won’t remember too much from this time. Sure, he will ask where Daddy is, but when I tell him “Daddy is working”, or “Daddy’s not here right now,” I am assuming that Micah will just go on with his everyday life until Leon comes back in December. 

That assumption all changed for me a couple days ago when Leon took Micah to the driving range for the first golf experience. Micah said all morning, “I play golf with Daddy!” He was so excited, and could not wait to have some boy time with his dad. Leon took him to the driving range, and out of a bucket of 100 balls, Leon probably hit 5 of them. The entire time, Micah wanted to hit the golf balls, so Leon took 2 hours out of his day, and helped his son learn to hit a golf ball with the mini golf clubs we borrowed from the Thomsons. 

                                       

It was then that I realized that there will be a huge hole in our family during the month of November. Not only will my husband, my partner in crime, my rock and my love, be missing....but Micah’s daddy, his wrestling partner, his ball-player, and his teacher will be missing as well. While I am missing the love of my life, Micah will be missing his hero. 

So how do I explain that to my 2 year old?

Maybe he will not remember this time in our lives. And maybe (well, hopefully!) he will be spared from major psychological ramifications from this one month. But he will most definitely feel the impact of this month, subconsciously. He will miss his rough-housing partner. He will miss being thrown in the air and caught with strong arms. He will miss his sports buddy, who always has the energy to play ball. He (and I) will miss the discipline and structure that Daddy offers. 

So whatever explanation I give Micah, I will know underneath it all that the hole that Leon’s absence creates is beyond anything I could make up for. I know that single-parent households exist all over, every day, and that they actually function well. But for us, that is not the reality, and that is not something that is right for us at this point, so the hole will be huge. And the impact will be great. 

Malachi 4:6 says “And he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers.” 

I choose to think that because God never causes destruction, and because I believe He has called Leon to do this great thing, that He will restore everything that suffers in the midst of it all. If Micah does make any long-term memories during this next month, I know that God will restore everything, and that Leon’s heart of selflessness will live on, even to inspire Micah to follow the heart of God when he gets older. And that’s my prayer for Micah. 

One of Micah’s many lessons during his golf outing with Dad.