Fathers and Sons

Someimes I will look over at my husband and I feel like I am looking at him for the first time. He'll be sitting on the couch or laying in bed and I will honestly think, "Who is this man in my house?" It could be due to an odd expression on his face or to something he has just said that catches me off-guard, but sometimes it's just random, and it can be quite terrifying.
It happened this weekend.
We had taken our parents to the Museum of Natural History and Michael had wandered off, like he tends to do when he is bored, and I had been left to entertain the Mothers. Well, he had ventured down a set of stairs to see the whale fighting the squid exhibit and his dad had wandered down behind him. As I stood at the balcony looking down for him I saw his dad on one side of the room, standing with his hands behind his back slowly rocking from his heels to his toes looking at some fish exhibit. But the thing is, I wasn't seeing Jesse, my lovable father-in-law, I was seeing Michael, 20 years from now. So, when I looked across the room and saw a younger version of the same man standing in the same pose rocking slowly back and forth, I didn't recognize him. And when he turned around and started to walk towards me, it caught my breath. I felt trapped in a weird place where time overlaps. I didn't recognize my husband of today but I saw the man that he is destined to become.
When I finally realized what was going on I couldn't help but smile.
See, Jesse is one of those men that you can't help but love. He's hard-working, laid-back, and a true adventurer at heart; and he loves his family with every ounce of his being. If my husband contains even one molecule of his genes then I am truly a blessed woman.
Lately, I will admit, I have wondered about us and about whether or not we will survive this test called life together. We've been faced with so many challenges that it's hard to sometimes remember that we are stronger together than we are apart, and we're both so stubborn... But this weekend I think I got the long awaited sign I've been looking for.
When I saw Jesse, I saw Michael. It may have been the first time I really saw him. And he is a good man, just like his father, he is a good man.