Skip to main content

Posts

Showing posts from September, 2021

Outward Signs of the Inward Changes

Don’t you just love asking a little kid what they want to be when they grow up? Kids can say pretty quickly they want to be a firefighter, doctor, astronaut, race car driver, or even all of those things at once! Not too long ago our six-year-old described the life he wants to have when he is a grown up—it entailed something like six dirt bikes, five dogs, living on a ranch, and having lots of kids. I think part of the magic of listening to kids describe their dreams is that, as adults, we don’t do anything to stop them. There’s no talk of education needed, annual salary, or, for the case of our six-year-old, how he will pay for the dirt bikes, the dogs, and the kids. I remember vividly the dream sharing Brandon and I were doing when we were first dating and engaged. Our “dates” typically started with a run to Dairy Queen for Blizzards, and then we would drive around the historic neighborhoods looking at the houses and describing our future together. Brandon especially loved the old hou...

Saying Yes

It was four years ago, Sebastian had a JV Football game, and I was going to be there to watch him play. We have a rule in our family that our kids will never compete or perform and we’re not there to watch them. As a former high school principal, I would see my students pour their hearts out on the court or on the field and not have a parent there to support them. Ever. And it just broke my heart. As long as our kids have been involved in school extracurriculars, we have always been there to cheer them on. For this particular game, I was the one designated to be there to watch him play, as Opal had another commitment on the same day and time with one of our other kids. We knew I would be traveling to his game directly from the airport after having been gone for three days at a work event. I’ll save you all the details, but short story is, I was about 30 minutes late to his game. It was the second quarter by the time I arrived. It was during the first quarter, Sebastian scored his first...