‘Wisdom of Our Fathers’

Dad needed to know it was all right to express his love to me, and my book had assured him that it was. Now that I had declared my love for him—and in public—something between us changed forever. About a month later, Maureen, Luke, and I went back to Buffalo for Christmas Eve and then on to New York, where we attended midnight mass. When we returned to our apartment, Luke disappeared to take a shower. A few minutes later, I heard Maureen yelling, “My God, what have you done?” She ran into the room, horrified. “He has a tattoo!”

I jumped out of my chair and yelled, “Luke, come in here!” I was really mad. A few months earlier, when he had told me he wanted a tattoo, I brought up the possible health risks and pointed out the irreversibility of a youthful decision that he might someday regret. I had talked him out of it—or so I thought.

But here he was before me, with a towel around his waist and his arms firmly locked down.

“Let me see it.”

“No.”

“Let me see it!”

“No!”

“Luke, let me see it!”

He reluctantly raised his left arm, and there were the letters TJR. Those are my initials—and also my dad’s. Luke was misty eyed. “After I read your book,” he said, “I wanted you and Grandpa to always be on my side.”

I collapsed back into the chair—speechless—and then sobbed. Luke came over and wrapped his arms around me. Laughing and crying at the same time, I pledged never to complain about Luke’s tattoo again. I was honored to be on his side... forever.

In November, my dad had reacted to my book by telling me flat out that he loved me. And now, just a month later, in a very different way, so had my son. Of all the things I have done in my professional career, nothing has been more rewarding than writing that book.

Excerpted from “Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons,” by Tim Russert. Copyright © 2006 by Tim Russert. Excerpted by permission of Random House, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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