Last week as Jackson, one of my Karate students was grabbing his equipment bag from the floor, ready to leave the dojo after training, his dad got up from his chair to head out as well. Jackson looked up to his dad and said: “I love you dad!”. His dad without missing a beat replied, “I love you too buddy”.

I don’t know why this hit me the way it did. Maybe because it was just out of the blue, there was no prior conversation, no particular interaction between them. I was moved by the simplicity and spontaneity of Jackson’s words. Probably neither of them thought much of the exchange, but for me, it touched my heart and brought memories of my own dad, the simple times we spent together and how many times I told him that I loved him. And still, it seems like I may not have done it often enough.

I remember as a young child listening on the record player to a 1969 song by the Argentinian singer Piero, “Viejo, Mi Querido Viejo” (Old man, my old man) next to my brothers, my mom, and my dad, all of us sitting around the living room console. This is an emblematic song about fathers, especially as they age, what our fathers carry inside, kindness, sorrow, loneliness, experiences, etc. and how, as children, we see ourselves so different from the prior generation.

My dad would get teary eyed listening to this song. My grandfather had passed away a year before I was born, and obviously, it brought him back memories about my grandfather. To this day, we all clearly remember those moments around the record player. They remain so very special, and maybe even more meaningful now, as I myself get to become the “old man” of the song as my kids get older.

Twenty five years after my own dad’s passing, this song still tugs at my heart strings, remembering my dad and all the wonderful and even the difficult times we shared growing up. With his virtues and faults, I know that he loved us kids so very much, and we loved him too. I just hope that we did enough to show him.

If you still have your dad around, take a cue from little Jackson and without rhyme or reason, tell your father: “I love you dad!”. Believe me, you can’t say it enough. - Happy Fathers Day!