#173 (of 365) "You Are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" Wolf Parade

This song inspired one of my first published stories, which was in a collection of coming out stories titled "Resilience: Stories, Poems, Essays for LGBT Teens," released in 2012. "You are a Runner" was written while I was in Writing School in the late 2000s and tells the story of my father and me through a sports lens, exploring the difficulties I had as a (very) closeted teen playing basketball for my father and contrasting that with the relationship we had later in life, when I was running 5Ks because various knee injuries made it impossible to play any team sports anymore, and how supportive my father was then, coming to watch me run. It's a joy that I still have my father here on this planet with me and, now much older with a child of my own--okay, just a dog but everyone knows I treat her like a daughter, I'm just thankful for all my father gave me, and the way he altered his relationship with me once I did come out, to someone who just became completely supportive of everything I do. Thanks Pop.

​I got a number on me, I got a number
Won't make it through the high noon sun
I am my father's son
And I am my father's son
His bed is made
I was a hero early in the morning
I ain't no hero in the night

I am my father's son
And I'll build a house inside of you
I'll go in through the mouth
I'll draw three figures on your heart
One of them will be me as a boy
And one of them will be me
And one of them will be me watching you run
Watching you run into the high noon sun
Watching you run farther than guns will go
You are a runner
With a stolen voice
And you are a runner 
And I am my father's son

"You are a Runner and I Am My Father's Son" - Wolf Parade // Apologies for the Queen Mary (2005)