even though I gifted it months ago
to my nephew who cannot yet read
today all I can picture
is the cover of “My Dad Used To Be So Cool”
alongside “Heather Has Two Mommies”
and the messages in-between

I’ve yet to read it to him, though
I read it to myself twice before
deciding to buy it
and when I gave it to him
I wrote inside
“To CM
We all used to be 
so cool.
Uncle H
2/2/17″
just as much to mark it for him
as for me