Seagul You Fly & The Beat Goes On

I know, I know, I have bloggy absent for some time. I have been in all the places about and more with 48hrs a week mixed in at home with my beloved family. Yes you read it correctly I get 48 hours a week with my kids and my wife. It has been this way for roughly 6 1/2 months. Update we are moving to Utah- hopefully soon. I love my new job even despite the brutal commute, but as I tell Alayna who will be 10 this summer, it is not our permanent reality.

What is a permanent reality is that while I have been traveling and ensuring that my family has a roof over their head, food on the table and rebuilding my IED destroyed financial dream, Alayna & Jordan have been growing up without my eyes vs. before my eyes. I came home a few weeks ago to find that Alayna had stripped her princess stuff off her walls and put up Carrie Underwood posters. ( could be worse, way worse.At least C. underwood is easy on the eyes and a great voice to boot) But the real kicker was when I went to do my laundry so I had clothes to repack in 24hrs. I walk into the laundry room and placed upon a towel on top of the dryer is a set of very small looking tank tops. I thought someone had shrunk my sons tank tops.. Nooooo.

Me-"Honey, what are these items on the dryer?"

Wife- " Laughing, Oh those are Alayna's new training bras."

Me- " Say What? When? What the? How? Come on.. Really?"

Me- " Are we out of scotch?"

SIGH......

So later that night my wife takes the opportunity to say,

"See honey,look, she is growing up."

I look over not thinking, only to catch a glimpse of my young daughters new found maturity. Now I know this happens to all little girls. It is part of life and growing. But what happened to my little girl whom I used to hold like a football close to my heart and rock to sleep? Point being I have missed so much, and these little surprises are just startling to me. A friend of mine Jessica Bern told me that her dad used travel all the time with his job and it did not make her love him any less. In fact I really respected his hard wrok for us.
(Jessica I paraphrased a bit, but I think I got most of it.)

Thanks, the thoughts did make me feel a bit of comfort.

I mean even my little man Jordan has sprouted in height and his so very grown way of expressing himself and speaking to me. I guess it is time to prep my birds and bees approach and speech. Damn, soon they will be asking for the car, extra lunch money or worse to go on a date. ( note to self, buy shotgun shells, wife beater tee-shirts and keep working out.)

I guess this is all inevitable. I just hoped I would be there when it all happened. Big ups to my awesome wife for keeping this crazy band of hooligans in line, homework done, mouths fed, and some sense of normalcy during this interesting time.

Well back to my hotel room and a good workout. Down 22lbs since October. Soon to have my girlish figure back. Maybe I will run into you on my travels. If I do, I need a hug.

Keep On Rock'in In The Free World

Mad World PlayGround Politics Thursday

So lets do this. We live in a Mad Mad World these days. I am not sure that moon hangs as high as it used to? I do not know if the sun really wants to shine anymore. I just don't know. Do you? I do know the rain is not going to wash away our countries troubles and to hide behind any ill accepted idea that our government is going to be able to fix this is foolhardy at best. Our happiness is not a map that lands on our door step each morning. It is our personal choice.

With this said,Our faces are a map of the world, our world. I think we all need to make a concerted effort and attempt to resurrect our mad worlds from this cess pool of a bovine balderdash economy and find a ray of hope, a new garden path or new personal plan to boldly move forward with on our own as neighborhoods and communities. Pay it forward no matter how small the action. Smile at someone when you may not have. Choose to be happy even if you feel frustrated and helpless. I promise you it will pay your psyche back in spades. God Bless you all.

I had the opportunity to spend lunch and recess with my 6yr old son today. What a cathartic and insightful time. The politics of the playground came shining through. Much like our adult world the playground has politics and a pecking order. Sad yes, but true. I took the chance to teach 20 boys how to throw a football properly ( they may never get that at home ). Sad but true. I chose to make sure that each kid got the chance to throw and feel for even a small moment like they were the star. After 30 minutes of this the mood and attitude of the alpha boys changed for the better. Maybe just because I was there, but they began to share with the smaller kids and cheer them on. If only for a small window of time it felt as though the tables were set evenly. I tried to impress upon these young lads that each of them had skills and by sharing they could become better individually and help their classmates become better. Without knowing the teacher had watched me paint this picture, she approached me after the bell rang and gave me a hug and told me how beautiful it was to see the kids get it and actually play together rather than the old traditional playground politics. The resounding lesson is that it only takes a few minutes to stop our crazy mad fast paced lives and teach a child. Their smiles as they feel the new confidence and success are such a great thank you. Pay it forward...



Keep On Rockin In The Free World