The Son He Never Had

by Evie Groch


With a wink and a grin
he’d always say to me
You’re like the son I never had.
I basked in those words,
so proud my father elevated me
to a status so high,
a status most daughters couldn’t reach.

I earned that praise – accompanied
him to work sites, helped him
clean vacated apartments,
went on walks with him
to visit his friends on the corner.

I even wielded a hammer,
sanded wood, painted walls,
learned to drive the Chevy
at fourteen under his keen eye,
a secret just between the two of us.

He conveyed to me there was
nothing I couldn’t do.
And then, after becoming
a mother of two girls,
I started to wonder.

Why hadn’t he appreciated me
for the daughter I was?
It was too late to ask,
but he could have said,
You’re the daughter I always wanted,
and that would have sufficed.


* * * * *

Evie Groch, Ed.D. is an Educational Consultant and Field Supervisor for new administrators in Graduate Schools of Education in several bay area universities.  Her opinion pieces, humor, poems, short stories, recipes, word challenges, and other articles have been published in the SF Chronicle, The Contra Costa Times, The Journal, MarketPlace, J Weekly and Games Magazine. Many of her poems are part of published anthologies. Her travelogues have been published with Grand Circle Travel. Travel has always influenced her writing. The theme of immigration holds a special place for her, having herself immigrated to the U.S. at the age of three.