Parenting, Sports, and Time Travel...

The clock is yet to reach 8:30am and I just finished my third cup of coffee. I think I'm more drained today than tired. Today is one of those days that as I stumbled out of bed I told myself I didn't care if I was running late, I couldn't move any faster. I made it on time... 

Parenting is a Sport....

I feel like most of the time I'm doing parenting right. But parenting is like sports. Nobody seems to remember when you came home after a long hard day and spent an extra two or three hours working on the house or helping with homework or fixing what's broken. Those are like regular season games. Nobody really cares about that stuff. It's expected. You're expected to fix the garbage disposal. You're expected to put new brakes on the car. But when the lights come on and the little red light shines do you perform? When the weight of a franchise is resting on your shoulders are you at your best? When the tough questions come up, are you parenting right? 

This past weekend was the 4th of July. We spent a good portion of the weekend in Cincinnati. It was nice. We took in a Red's game and spent time at an aquarium. I was proud of my oldest daughter when during the National Anthem at the ballgame I saw her put her hand over her heart and genuinely show respect. It wasn't to long ago that we'd had a conversation about our country and the men and women who've served and sacrificed for us. It wasn't exactly a conversation, it was more of a dad yelling at daughter thing, but on Saturday I was proud of her. And it made me feel like, at least on this day, that I'd taken my team to the playoffs. 

Put in a full day...

It seems like I've been doing a lot of yelling lately, both out loud and in my head. Maybe if you ask my family they'll think it's no more than usual, but these past four months have been a roller coaster of emotions for me. It seems like as I get older me and roller coasters don't mix to well. 

Jim Valvano said in his 1993 ESPY speech that we should do 3 things every day. We should laugh. We should spend time in thought. And we should have our emotions moved to tears. He said that's a full day, if we laugh, cry, and think. I feel like these last four months I've had more full days than ever before.  

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Time Travel...

I spent majority of my day today traveling back in time. Not literally. Today I went through and deleted old emails from my phone. Long story short I'd reached over 10 thousand e-mails in my inbox, and it was driving me crazy. I'm a bit OCD sometimes and today was one of those days that they had to be deleted. Right. Now. Some of the emails I'd read previously, but most were junk. It was like traveling back through time as I re-read emails from nearly five years ago. Comments people had made on my blog, on Facebook, and e-mails between the DW and I. It made me think I wished I could go back and redo some of the events of the past few months. 

Why Don't Bad Guys Ever Win???

Ask me about my youth and I'll tell you of a boy who had a hard time growing up. A boy who at his core struggled with confidence and discipline. Ask me about being a teenager and I'll tell you my struggles continued, which led me down many a wrong path. 

Why don't bad guys ever win???

In my youth my struggles with discipline, parental guidance and overall authority quickly got me labeled. I wasn't exactly a bad guy but I wasn't winning either. 

My son asked the question the other day, why don't bad guys ever win? I wasn't sure how to answer him. Real life logic tells us that bad guys, truly bad guys, like bullies and politicians win all the time.

Then one day someone comes along... 

Ask me about my wife and I'll tell you that she's an amazing, beautiful woman. I'll tell you that after 13 years of marriage I'm still crazy about her.

Bad guys don't win in movies or in life because in the end they make bad decisions and wrong choices. Or maybe it's because they never meet someone that changes their life forever....

Something worth fighting for...

Ask me today if I'm a bad ass and I'll most certainly tell you yes, as I puff up my chest and speak with authority.

Today I am not wrong, and I am not weak. I am confident in the words that come out of my mouth or that are put to paper.

When I was younger I got in my fair share of scuffles in the neighborhood. I can remember on one such occasion where I didn't end up on the winning end, and I told the boy who just whipped my ass how I was going to get my older brother and he'd better not be around when we came back. Only my brother didn't come back

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I do not have the strength, confidence or the attitude of a bad ass. I do not walk around with a chip on my should pissed off at the world, just daring someone to cross my path. 

But sometimes we have to fight. We fight for our loved ones and our family. We fight for our kids; and when that happens. When the time comes that you must stand up, put up your dukes, and fight. You better be a bad ass.