Father’s Day offers reflection for Walsh
‘I wish Dad could see me now’
Sometimes when he’s riding across the city, Marty Walsh will find himself thinking, “I wish Dad could see me now.”
Even as he nears the end of his first term at City Hall, he still experiences moments of wonderment, realizing he’s living the fulfillment of a dream that once would have been unimaginable.
Indeed, his first words to delegates at last summer’s Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia were, “Good evening. My name is Marty Walsh and I’m an alcoholic.”
But, by the grace of God, one day at a time, he’s been sober for 22 years. It’s a past he does not run from, other than offering himself as proof that our past does not have to be our future, too.
Like lots of sons, Marty looks back on memories he wishes weren’t there, including times he could see the hurt he put in his old man’s eyes. The songwriter nailed it: “If God would but grant me the power to turn back the pages of time, I’d give all I own if I could atone to that silver-haired daddy of mine.”
And that’s just what Marty did in 1997 when he dove into the waters of politics, offering to represent his Savin Hill neighbors in the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
When they rewarded him with their Thirteenth Suffolk District seat he was on his way.
“My dad campaigned for me and was always asking, ‘What do you think? What are you going to do?’ One of my first big votes was on capital punishment. I came down against it and I can still hear him: ‘Do you feel good in your heart about what you did?’ When I told him I did he said, ‘Then you made the right decision.’”
John Walsh, who came to America from County Galway, died in 2010, never knowing his son would become Boston’s 54th mayor.
“When I’m driving through the city, I see all these little signs put up by the DPW with my name on them,” Marty said. “Sometimes I almost chuckle, thinking, ‘I can’t believe that’s me.’
“But most of the time I’m just grateful to find myself in this role. And that’s when I find myself wishing he could be here to see it, though a part of me feels like he’s right beside me, traveling all over the city with me, coming along for the ride.”
Tomorrow, Father’s Day, will find the mayor visiting Mom, which is a lot like visiting Dad.
“I don’t need a special day to remember him,” he said, “because I still love him very much.”