Talking Sex With My Son…Not an easy discussion

Alan J. Schwarz
7 min readApr 28, 2021

My wife Lilly died when my son Phillip was two years old. It was a tragic accident that will always haunt me. Lilly and I were in Florida and she wanted to go with a bunch of her friends to Fort Lauderdale. Her friend Jenna had a beautiful boat and they were going to spend a couple of hours on the water. A professional athlete who was hopped up on booze and drugs drove his boat filled with his partying buddies into Jenna’s boat. He was driving at a crazy speed and the collision caused a massive explosion. My wife, Jenna and two other women were killed on impact. The athlete survived for a couple of hours before he died.

I was angry and sick when he was glorified by his adoring fans. It wasn’t till his autopsy was released and one of the guys on the party boat came forward to share what happened that the discussion turned to the dangers of substance abuse. The survivor said the athlete had been talking about checking into rehab that week, but he had never made it. My wife paid the price.

Phillip was raised with a ton of love from his Grandparents on both sides and his Aunts and Uncles. I made sure to always tell him stories about Lilly and he grew into a fine and outstanding person. Our bond couldn’t have been closer.

It was amazing to watch him grow, he had a maturity about him that was off the charts. Without humble bragging he was also very well built and an attractive guy who had a wonderful sense of humour and personality. His athletic skills were off the chart and this led him to being named starting quarterback on his High School football team.

Phillip had met Cassie Spring when he started High School. She was a cute, smart girl and they became friends and graduated to boyfriend and girlfriend a few months later. They always wanted to spend time together and I was thrilled. She became a cheerleader and was determined to be one of the top students in the school so she could go to a University of her choosing and follow her dream of becoming a veterinarian. Every time I met her I really liked her. She was a quality person and I knew Lilly would’ve loved her. My son had very good taste.

I was working on a report about a new cryptocurrency for my Hedge fund when Phillip walked into my office. He sat down on a comfortable easy chair beside…

Alan J. Schwarz

Alan Schwarz loves life. He is the founder of JAMS Productions, a television production company based in Toronto . His passion is writing.