LETTING GO

During the Persian Gulf War, I was assigned to go to Saudi Arabia.  As I
was saying good-bye to my family, my three-year-old son, Christopher,
was holding on to my leg and pleading with me not to leave.  "No, Daddy,
please don't go!" he kept repeating.

We were beginning to make a scene when my wife, desperate to calm him,
said, "Let Daddy go and I'll take you to get a pizza."

Immediately, Christopher loosened his death grip, stepped back and in a
calm voice said, "'Bye, Daddy."

Craig S. Kunishige in Reader's Digest