Damien O Reilly.
My Dad was 33 when I was born. When my son Patrick was born, I was 33. So I can stand back at times and look at Patrick and think: “This is how my Dad saw and sees me through his eyes.”
Hopefully, in time, we will reach the day together when Dad will be 99, I will be 66 and Patrick will be 33. The genes are excellent on Dad’s side so it is a reasonable expectation.
Patrick is now 14 (you are now doing the maths working out the ages of Dad and I). When I was his age, I was waking up on Christmas morning in my Granny’s house in Ballyjamesduff. She lived to the ripe old age of 99, by the way. A day or two after getting off school for Christmas, I would stand at the bus stop on the Navan Road across from Brady’s garage (good Cavan people, too, of course), for the Streamline bus to Virginia.