"Lovely family." Jesse allows himself a smile at this dad kinship, and takes a good look at the offered photo.
"Military duty is tough. I used to serve when I was younger. Gotta say, it was a challenge putting in long, hard hours on a mission and then coming home to a fussy toddler. My son was, a uh, surprise and I was young. I didn't have a ton of patience or maturity back then.
"But don't get me wrong! I still love both my kids to pieces." He unfastens the breast pocket of his shirt and pulls out an envelope. From this there comes an old, worn photo of his own family: a smiling woman in rustic clothes sits on a porch step with a toddler of indeterminate gender and a bowl-cut-wearing preteen boy gathered up next to her.
"You seem like you're all on board for the parenthood thing? I wish I'd had your enthusiasm. At least, enough to properly appreciate my kids when they were just tiny things."
no subject
"Military duty is tough. I used to serve when I was younger. Gotta say, it was a challenge putting in long, hard hours on a mission and then coming home to a fussy toddler. My son was, a uh, surprise and I was young. I didn't have a ton of patience or maturity back then.
"But don't get me wrong! I still love both my kids to pieces." He unfastens the breast pocket of his shirt and pulls out an envelope. From this there comes an old, worn photo of his own family: a smiling woman in rustic clothes sits on a porch step with a toddler of indeterminate gender and a bowl-cut-wearing preteen boy gathered up next to her.
"You seem like you're all on board for the parenthood thing? I wish I'd had your enthusiasm. At least, enough to properly appreciate my kids when they were just tiny things."