No Off Season...for dads

I am a teacher in a public charter school in Washington, DC. The academic year is underway as we prepare to enter our third week of school. The students and teachers are still readjusting from the restful and thoughtful summer. As we do every year, we set out our Hopes and Dreams , helping all of us to focus on how we will have a successful school year. Yet, this year was a bit different. We had a Hope and Dreams Balloon Launch! All of the students on Leadership Hall wrote their academic hopes and dreams as well as their social hopes and dreams. After carefully drafting and editing them, they put them on sticky notes, carefully folded them, and stuffed them in balloons. We blew them up with a helium tank and walked outside to our rather large play yard. All fifth and sixth grade classes came out with their balloons in hand. It was such a sight to see. They were so excited, as well as the teachers! They yelled a harambe poem in unison. I then stood in the middle of all the classes and t...

I was chatting with my mom earlier. She was mentioning that she wanted to take our boys to see their great- grandparents next weekend as a way to meet up and lessen our drive for when we have to pick them up. As she continued talking, she mentioned how my granddad is doing. He has been challenged with the beginning stages of Alzheimer's Disease. She then tells me that he has had some other challenges, including a recent stroke. We ended the conversation and I was sobered. My grandmother lived in a small town in Allendale , SC. We often went there during my younger years. It was a town with about two traffic lights, gnats, one Hardees , and a constant soothing sound of freight and cargo trains. We would sit on the front porch of her house and then daringly jump off. Her car that she had for over 40 plus years still sits under the carport. She passed away some years ago. At the funeral, I was awakened to the fact that I needed to call my grandparents a lot more to check in on them....

I was cutting my grass yesterday. Tall blades were high from all of the recent rain that we had been getting. I decided to be a good neighbor and cut our neighbor’s yard as well. She was very appreciative. Well, she sent out a young man to come and sweep up the excess grass that had gathered on her walkway. I saw the young man as I usually do. He is probably no more than about 21 years old. For the sake of privacy, I’ll call him Bob. I said hello; he said, as he always does, “Hello sir!” I was taken aback as I always am when he calls me ‘sir’. He never has tried to get to know my name. He simply calls me ‘sir’. This day, I took notice of this. I began talking to him. We talked about careers and cars while we were sweeping up the grass. We talked about our professions; he thought I was a college professor. A college professor?!?!? Let that one slide. As I readied myself to go inside, I told him my full name. His response was, “My name is Bob, sir!” There goes tha...

Children teach us so much. I got an incredible lesson this evening. I was walking through IKEA today with my beautiful wife looking for a table for my office downstairs. We walk the entire IKEA as usual looking for an inexpensive drafting table. The store was full of families with young children aimlessly running around. A little boy saw me and with his parents by his side, began looking at me with these beautiful big, black eyes! He was so cute. As we continued to walk the store, a little girl holding pink butterfly wings looked up at me and said, "Look!". She held up the wings as I admired, not the wings, but her audacity to speak to a stranger. My son has often times walked up to complete strangers and said hi, carried on a conversation, or even hug them! I don't recommend that, though! Children live in and for the moment. They could often times care less about their appearance or what others think. They make friends easily and know how to forgive and forg...

Dads, we often times are given advice, but are often times very reluctant to take it. Let's face it...we are men! We think we have all the answers and don't need any additional help. We say we can fix the kitchen faucet, although we have never held a wrench. We think we can put up drywall, but don't know the difference between a phillips and a flat head . We swear we know where we are going, even though our wives are telling us that we really are going the wrong way as she shows us the map....and looks at the GPS...and has a print out from Mapquest . Advice is something we have confidence in giving, but often times find trouble in taking it (as my wife is giving me advice as I write this!) Well, this happened to me this past weekend. About what, you may ask? This blog ! We drove the family down to Atlanta to my mother's beautiful home in the suburbs of Atlanta this past weekend. We were sitting at the breakfast table on Sunday morning eating sausage, eggs, and her fam...

Last night was a really rough one. My youngest son was in tremendous pain. He was constipated! We were praying throughout the night asking God to help ease this discomfort. He was screaming and hollering. At one point in the night, he was saying, "I can't take it anymore! I can't take it anymore!" It was a moment when I felt completely helpless and guilty because I was not feeling the same pain he was; nor could I take his pain away. I never want my boys in pain. It hurts to see. It's now 2:00 am. I did everything I could possibly think of to help him. Nothing was working, nothing except this... "Son, I need to give this to you. I know you can do it, but I need you to be brave." I needed to give him a suppository. "Son, can you do this? It will take five seconds and then I am done." "Okay dad. But will it hurt?" "No, son! I would never give you something that would hurt you." He squeamishly gives me the okay until he sees wh...

My wife and oldest son had been feverishly preparing for this for over two years. A sojourn to Egypt is what monopolized the attention of this house for about the past week. We've been packing, buying last minute items, and anticipating an almost 24-hour travel. As my wife was packing at the gorgeous time of 4:15 am, I was writing some thoughts to my son. I was giving him advice-technical, moral, physical, and spiritual advice. Even while cutting his hair last night, I was advising him. At the end of the letter, I gave him my blessing. I wrote a letter to Paula as well. And just like the one to my son, I gave her the same type of advice, just more seasoned for her needs. And at the end of the letter, I gave her my blessing. I packed the letters away in their suitcases. They won't see them until they reach their hotel in Egypt. I learned and was reminded of a couple of things from their upcoming experience. First, perseverance has its rewards. They stuck this program out fo...