It’s one of the most popular burger places across from Stanford University in Palo Alto. I stepped in the long line to order and a woman with an 11-year old boy got in line behind me. She warned her son several times to be patient, yet she was a tad bit irritated herself. A mother-son verbal conflict arose, complete with that’s not fair versus a you don’t always get what you want speech.
At first, I just listened. The boy was on verge of a chaotic meltdown, and honestly, I thought she should make good on her promise to take him straight home if his impatience continued.
You’d think it gets easier. Uh, uh. Not at all. Jessica’s the 8th, and final kid to teach to drive and officially has a learner’s permit.
“Daddy, can I drive through Houston?” she asks.
A parent hears that question and a swallow gets stuck between the windpipe and esophagus. The palms turn sweaty, the mouth dries, blood pressure rises and an immediate regret follows from drinking that big strawberry Coke from Sonic Happy Hour. Continue reading Driving Daddy Crazy→
Some family traits are passed down generation to generation as consistently as a calendar. From my life angle now, it’s fascinating to see traits in the grandchildren that my children had. Some could discount this as trite or trivial, and maybe it is just sentimental thinking that sees what I want to see, not what is. But then again, in some ways my oldest son, Blake, and his soon to be four year old son, Cooper, are remarkably the same!
(Katie, one of my daughters, and I went to a coffee shop. She brought her art pad. I brought my Ipad. We played a game. We each wrote a random topic..…mine for her to draw: “A dandelion kissing the wind while hearing a butterfly sing” and hers for me to write about: “I heard someone say, ‘Learn it young — beauty is pain’”. This is our combined work over two hot cups of coffee.)Continue reading Beauty in Pain→
Stories about family, faith, friends and funnies. Pull up a chair. Grab a cup of coffee and laugh, cry, ponder and inspire about ordinary events of this wonderful, ever changing, bubbling pot that we call "every day life".