Father's Day

As Father's Day approaches, I took a second to reflect on being a dad.

I know it is impossible to believe, but there was a time in my life when I wasn't the best athlete around. My freshman year of high school, I went out for the freshman basketball team at Southwest High School. I made the B team. The B team is for the the 13th-24th best players. Unfortunately, the B team only plays a few games each season. After our B season, ended, I was good enough to be called up the to show! I was put on the A team. (not he cool one with the van). My dad went to every game. (back info, my Dad hates basketball). While on the A team, I never got to play. Literally, there was a stretch of several games that I never played a minute but my dad was always in the stands.

One time I told my dad not to come to the game that night. The game was an hour away and I hadn't been playing. I remember it like it was yesterday, he told me that he was going to be at every game because he wouldn't miss me getting on the floor. Well, that night, I didn't get a chance to play and my dad was up in the stands. He paid the two bucks to enter the gym, drove an hour away and watched me sit on the bench hoping to play, but he was there. By the end of my freshman year, I played a few games and became a capable backup post player, and he was there.

Just to feed my ego, I want to tell you that I worked my way to a starter by the end of my sophmore year on the JV team at Southwest then ultimately made the all district team at Crowley High.

Whenever I think back at all the thousands of things my dad did for me, the top of the list is always his attendance to a sport that he doesn't like, to watch me sit on the bench just in case I got a chance to play. I know that no matter what Emily does for fun, I won't miss a game, match or meet. Let's just hope she plays a sport that I understand. Swimming, Volleyball, or Basketball.

Thanks Dad,

BW

Growing

We're in Trouble

Saturday night, I got to see a old buddy. You know, the kind you don't see for two years, but when you do, it was like only a day or two had passed.

Before I go, I had to stop by the gas station and gas up. While in line to pay, the lady in front of me was asking the cashier for some cigarettes. First about her. Short, young, and overweight. The cashier carded her for cigarettes, so she looked like a late teenager maybe young twenties. Her order: Marlboro Reds, two boxes. After getting her ID back, she slides her credit card in the machine and it gets rejected. She acted like there was something wrong with the machine and tried again. Rejected again. She looks at the cashier as he shrugs his shoulders. Then she grabs a second card! Swipes and and shocker...rejected. So she tries it again and again it was rejected. Then she leaves with her smokes still on the checkout counter.

In this day of healthcare debate and taxes on the rich and such, I learned a lesson from this girl. You can't fix stupid! If you have zero dollars in your account and are over you credit limit, do you need to be spending $11 on cigarettes at a convenience store? Let's break it down.

1. She's overweight, clearly she was not taking care of herself physically. Especially considering her age. Are you ever going to have more free time to exercise than you do at that age, and is it ever easier?

2. She's a smoker. Probably not helping item #1 by the way. I don't really have an issue with people that smoke as long as it isn't around me. I think it is nasty, but don't we all have a habit that someone else thinks is nasty? I wonder if she read the warnings on the side? Isn't that the solution to our healthcare problem...warning labels?

3. She's out of money. Not only is she out of money, she is clearly living on credit cards and credit card debt. If she was to shred those cards and live on cash, she'd know that she was out of money. More concerning is that I'm sure she knew that she was low on money, yet she had $11 to spend on smokes. Not milk, or bread or diapers or soup, but smokes! So, she is mounting debt and wasting money.

4. She is shopping at a convenience store. About a quarter mile away is a giant Wal Mart (with significantly lower prices), yet she chose the most expensive place to shop. Maybe this feeds into #3. I've never priced cigarettes, but I'd be willing to bet they are much cheaper at Wal Mart than Shell. Any bets?

What I quickly realized is that this girl is most likely in poor health (or soon will be) and has no money...HELLO HEALTHCARE, and HELLO TAXES! There are tons of people out there who make responsible decisions that just need a little help, but this girl just feeds my cynicism. How can I gladly pay my taxes, when I know people like her are taking them to buy smokes at Shell? Maybe she does deserve healthcare, but what if her health problems are self imposed? Should I have to ante up for that?

Maybe in my land of rainbows and unicorns, she left the Shell and said, "what am I doing?" Shortly after that, she threw away all her cigarettes and lighters and such. Then she used the money once wasted on smokes at Shell and started paying down her credit card debt. She also started walking 2 miles 4 times/week. Two years later, she was down 35 lbs. and paid off, then shredded her credit cards. Good For Her!

You write the end of this story...I want to, but don't believe my ending.

I'm Right! You're Wrong!

I was listening to two people argue over some political stuff (we've all done it). Then I realized that nothing ever gets accomplished in these arguments. Just to make the point, find someone with an opposing viewpoint on abortion. Now I have heard lots of people argue opposing sides of this subject many times, and after the first such argument, I have never heard a new thought. Yeah, it's still the woman's body, and yeah, it's a living thing. Then why do we argue these things. Have you ever known anyone to say, "wait, you're right, abortion is wrong! I am against it now." No, nobody has ever changed their viewpoint..at least not based on your thoughts (things can happen in their own life that alters their beliefs).

One day I was watch that silly new show, The Marriage Ref. It is dumb show that will be quickly cancelled, but it does have an interesting idea. Choose a winner! So I decided to make some rules to decide how to pick a winner of an argument. Here is how to determine the winner:

1. Once it gets to name calling...you lose. Here are some common examples. "you're an idiot", "racist", "loser", etc. At this point it is no longer about the issue, and you've clearly made it personal...you lose.

2. If you tell someone to put their mouth on part of your body. "Eat this ", "kiss that..." for example. Once it gets here, you've ran out of good points.

3. Finally, if it gets to cussing and/or screaming. Pretty self explanatory.

Here are some fun topics to try this out on: Abortion, Death Penalty, Health Care, Religion, Israel vs. Middle East, the bailout, Gay Rights, Welfare, and there are many, many more. Enjoy!

Just Close Your Eyes!

Lately, Emily has been either sleeping great or not at all. Just once, I'd like to crawl in her little head to figure out why she does what she does sometimes. Why does she put everything in her mouth? Yesterday, we couldn't get her to open her mouth for food, but I was playing with her outside and she put a bunch of dirt in her mouth. Why?

Saturday night, she started crying around 11:00 or so. Normally, we let her cry for 5-10 minutes to see if she will put herself back to sleep. About 75% of the time, this works and she will cry for a minute, then fall back asleep. Well, Saturday was the "other" 25%. Once she gets a good cry going, it is hard to listen to. She sounds like she is in such pain. Like she was sleeping on a bed of fire ants.

I walked into her her room and she was rolling around in her bed just screaming. I picked her up and held her to my chest to comfort her. Most of the time, she'll quickly calm down as she is being held. Most of the time... This night was different. As I held her, she would kick me and push herself away from me with her legs and scream. Then, I would move her legs and pull her in again, but she would push with her arms and legs (trying to get free?) I never could get her under control and had to call in the big guns. Carrie. For whatever reason, when Emily gets completely out of control, only mom can soothe her. So I bring her to Carrie and a few minutes later, Emily is asleep.

Now I can't sleep. I am a bit upset that I'm not what she wants. I understand that babies always have a natural bond with mom, but I want some of that too. As my mind wonders, I think to myself:

"The sad part of all of this, is when she is older, she won't realize the sacrifice of time, money and sleep. She will be upset with me because I told her to change her clothes to something more appropriate. She will be upset because her curfew isn't where she wants it. I just wish that I could video all of these moments when we are up late on a Saturday night and all we want to do is calm her down and let her sleep peacefully. Let me record Carrie changing her sheets at 4:00 in the morning because she threw up in her bed. Fact is, we will never get full credit for these moments, nor should be expect credit. We aren't raising this girl for credit."

Then I got a backfire....Do I appreciate my parents enough, because they did these same things for me. Having a kid gives you perspective on a lot of things, but strangely, I got perspective on sacrifices made 36 years ago through a 7 month old baby. Thanks Mom, Thanks Dad.

OH NO!

As I hold baby Emily, I catch a whiff of unpleasantness. Carrie won't be home for at least 30 mintues, so I guess I'm on my own on this one. She is in a very good mood, so this shouldn't take but a second.

I pick her up and set her on her changing table, a small dresser about 3 feet high with a changing pillow on top of it, and all of her gear in a basket (wipes, diapers, powder, etc.) I pull off her shoes and pants and see that we have a "problem." Seems that Emily scored a victory over Mr. Pampers, and consequently over Mr. Onsie too. I realize now that I am going to have to strip her down and change all of her clothes. So I get the messy diaper off, and reach for the wipes....none left.

What do you do, when you have a half naked baby with poop all over the place and no wipes? Well, the wipes are in the closet about 5 feet away...do you see a bad idea forming in my head? I take one giant step toward the closet and grab the wipes and return to the table....wrong box. This box of wipes has clothes that she has outgrown. So I again take one giant step toward the closet locate the wip....OH NO, the baby rolling off the changing table!

I dove across the room and reached her just as she hit the floor. I was able to catch "most" of her, but she still took a bump. Did she break anything? Does she have a concussion? Is she breathing? All of this worry creeps up on me. Luckily, I caught enough of her that there wasn't even a bruise. She cried for about 30 seconds, probably more from my reaction than the fall. If I didn't feel bad enough, now I have poop all over me, her and the floor. I finally got everything cleaned up and she quickly returned to a very happy baby. As for me, I just want to apologize to her and have her say, "no big deal, I'm good."

As a parent, you are not allowed an off day or even an off second. I can only imagine what happens when they start walking.

All kinds of stuff

I guess this is my blog and I can post whatever I want. If you don't like it, then you can just be wrong.

1. Carrie turned in her two week notice this week and will go to part time starting the middle of April. I know that it will make things easier on her and ultimately will be better for Emily. I am just amazed at the pink mafia. There are tons of "good for you" and "it's best" type comments. Exactly how do they know? If I was to announce that I was quitting my job to take care of the kid, I can guarantee there would be lots of raised eyebrows. Why the double standard?

2. I realized this week that nothing is more polarizing that politics! I read through several arguments of people for/against the healthcare bill. One thing that I read a lot is that it is the "right thing to do", and that it "only affects the rich".

I believe that it is hard to take a moral stand for something that costs you nothing. The true beauty of giving is the sacrifice. If you will remember, David was going to create an alter to God and a man wanted to donate the land to David and the wood and supplies too. David refuesed and said, "[I will not] offer burn offerings to the Lord my God with that which costs me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24)


If you truly believe that it is "the right thing to do" then how much are YOU willing to pay? If the answer is zero, then the double standard is revealed. If it is right, then you should willingly give! If you believe that the right thing to do is to give blood, yet you have never given, how much should I listen? If you believe it is right to give money to those without healthcare and you haven't given to these people, how much should I listen?

This is one thing that I struggle with. I know that I should be compassionate. I know that I should help others, and I know that I don't do enough. Truth is, we are ALL rich! If you are reading this on a computer or cell phone, then you are rich! (just ask the people in Haiti) It is just more comfortable to say "the rich" and define them as people who make more than me, fact is, I got a house, two cars, a computer, two TVs....I got more than most and chances are so do you. Should I give willingly, or should I wait for government legislation forcing me to give, or even better, shoud I support a bill that forces others to give! Even better?

3. One more healthcare bill note. Part of the bill will require all restaurant with more than 20 locations to print the calorie count on the menu, because this will improve healthy eating....hmmmmm. How did this work for warnings on cigarettes? How did this work for warning on beer/alcohol? Fact is, government can't save us from us. People are lazy and cheeseburgers are easy. By now, if you don't know that a bacon cheeseburger is bad for you, you got bigger issues. Of course it is, but I can drive through and get one and it tastes good.

I would love to know your thoughts on these things. If you have intelligent, well thought out comments, feel free to leave them. (remember, ignorance will be censored!)