Nostalgia

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Dear Jack: Do You Remember The Times Of Your Life?

3 years, 8 months.

*Please play “Times Of Your Life” by Paul Anka while reading this one. I feel it perfectly captures the equal combination of sadness and goodness that illustrate what I am saying today:

Dear Jack,

Towards the end of my high school years, I remember suddenly becoming aware of those first couple of years of my life when things just seemed the sweetest and most innocent.

monster hat for boys

I had looked back though old photo albums, seeing the sincere look of joy on my parents’ faces as they lived in those moments, circa 1984.

My parents had made sacrifices for me, by default, simply because they became parents. But they cherished me for the sweet little boy I was.

It’s not something I had really thought much about until my later teenage years. Here we are, 30 years later. You’re now the sweet little boy in those pictures. Mommy and I are the parents in those pictures who cherish their son.

elevator ceiling selfie

As long as I’ve been a parent, I’ve always been mindful of the cliche warnings: “Don’t rush these years. Kids grow up so fast!”

With that being said, the older you get, the more I love being your Daddy.

So while I’m not trying to rush these years, I admit I’m always curious to see how much cooler being your Daddy will get. You become more of “a real boy” each day.

father and son nostalgia

As for now, these are the days when your stuffed animals still serve as the important equivalent of imaginary friends. It’s like they have souls. We don’t go anywhere without at least one of them, like your purple elephant, Ellie, for example.

I realize that a few years from now, those main characters in your life will fade to the background. What a strange thought!

Right now, these are the sweetest, most innocent years. It’s sadly ironic that I will most likely remember more about this time in your life than you will.

Good thing your Daddy is obsessed with documenting the whole thing for you! Granted, that “obsession” stems from my own wishes to revisit my past.

I enjoy you watching your world and I being a part of it. Perhaps being a parent is the most legitimate way to return to those nostalgic years of life I miss.

Love,

Daddy

P.S. The middle picture is an entry we submitted for a “selfie photo contest” for Joe Hendricks Photography!

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Nashville Man Mysteriously Rescued By Monster Trucks

This past Sunday afternoon as a Nashville man, Nick Shell, 33, was rounding the turn at Old Hickory Boulevard and Nolensville Pike in his newly restored 1985 Toyota 4Runner, he slid into a giant mud-filled ditch.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

“I had never seen mud that deep and thick before. It was all the way up to the windows. But then I looked up and saw a monster school bus and a big black monster truck with the phrase Crusader written across it. It was such perfect timing. How the monster trucks appeared immediately after my moment of need, I’ll never know,” Shell explained.

The giant monster trucks were able to nudge the 4Runner back up to the main road to safety. Perhaps miraculously, after all the mud was washed off, both the driver and Toyota 4Runner escaped the crash without even a scratch.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

However, the monster trucks mysteriously drove away shortly after the 4Runner was saved from the mud pit. One anonymous eyewitness who happened to be driving behind the monster trucks stated that the two vehicles had directly left from seeing Disney’s Planes: Fire And Rescue.

Did the new Planes movie help inspire the monster trucks to be on the look-out for smaller vehicles they could rescue? It’s possible.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

Some wonder if, in the likeness of the anonymous kindness of comic book super heroes, there will be more stories to come which tell of other monster trucks helping out drivers in need out there on the road.

It is also uncertain what exactly caused such a large area of deep mud so close to the main road. Large, asteroid-like clumps of rocky mud were also discovered near the site of the rescue.

We can only hope that where people are in despair, heroes continue to mysteriously appear to save them.

As for now, to the monster school bus and Crusader… whoever and wherever you are, your good works have not gone unnoticed.

1985 Toyota 4Runner funny

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Dear Jack: Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children To Watch

3 years, 7 months.

Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children

Dear Jack,

This past July 4th, you were finally old enough to truly appreciate the observation of fireworks. I was just as happy as you were to go to the Tennessee/Alabama state line to pick up our stash of fireworks that I felt would be appropriate for you to witness; not to actual ignite yourself. (Obviously.)

Well, except for the super snaps…

fw2

With great pride, I chose the finest array of made in China fireworks I could find for our family:

Snakes, color smoke balls (smoke bombs), moon travellers (bottle rockets), attack vehicles (tanks), cocks crowing (chickens), party poppers, super snaps (snap & pops), turbo flashes, and “new small bees.”

I wanted to make sure you would be able to see some tamer, more cartoonish versions of what might be exciting at a big fireworks show.

fw6

To my surprise, your absolute favorite were what I called the smoke bombs, but labelled as “color smoke balls,” which sounds less violent, I suppose.

I think next year, I’ll just buy like 6 packs of those and a box of super snaps, and you will be just fine. Those were the things that excited you the most.

Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children

If the smoke balls won 1st place, and the super snaps won 2nd, then I’d say that coming in at 3rd place would be the snakes. You weren’t too impressed when I lit them up alone. The real show was lighting a pack at a time, which is 6.

Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children

From there, the lesser fireworks to you seemed to be the louder ones. You did like the sparks flying out of the turbo flash; it was like a mini, festive explosion… but you only appreciated it from across the lawn.

Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children

While I personally have always loved the hilarious chickens and tanks, they were a bit to unnerving for you; as they suddenly screeched into a fiery demise.

Review Of Suitable Fireworks For Small Children

As for the “new small bees,” they hardly cost anything, but basically just vanished into the air and were gone.

pw9

After your Uncle Andrew and I shot off all the good stuff, we helped out Nonna and Papa by blowing up some ant hills, in classic Alabama style.

fireworks review

I know you had as much fun as I did seeing your first backyard fireworks show. But like I said, if all I would have bought were smoke bombs and super snaps, you would have been just as happy.

 

Love,

Daddy

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I Found A Trail And At The End Was You

June 26, 2014 at 11:11 pm , by

3 years, 7 months.

Dear Jack,

While on our summer annual vacation in Lake Tahoe this past week, we stayed at a resort called The Village at Squaw Valley; where they held the 1960 Olympics.

I’ve never been an athlete or even into watching organized sports. I mountain bike and run- those are my weekly physical activities.

And whenever I get the chance, I love to hike!

It just so happens that where we stayed was surrounded by huge, hikeable mountains. So for a couple of mornings, your 19 year-old cousin Matt and I decided to scale the face of the mountains; along the way of the ski lifts. Sure, there were service roads and “official” trails, but for us, they simply served as landmarks for us.

As you can see, we helped save a baby snake from most likely being soon run over by a service vehicle. We even hiked high enough to touch the snow at the top of the mountain; as well as to the very “spaceshippy” ski lift operation building.

After you heard about all the excitement, you began asking me, “Daddy, can I go on a hike with you? Can we find a trail?”

Granted, there were no trails appropriate for a 3 and a half year-old little boy, but you and I found some anyway.

One included the entryway to a restaurant called Plumpjack’s, which had a cool waterfall and a bridge. There was also a “spaceship” at the base of the mountain that you and I were able to check out.

We also “hiked” along the stone pathway leading to a small pond where you got to throw rocks until your heart was content.

It was one of the most memorable parts of our vacation, spending that father and son time with you.

Of course, the flattering part of this story for me is that you wanted to “hike a trail” with me because you observed that’s “what the guys are doing.”

I love it that you wanted to follow the model I unintentionally set for you.

Just like the lyrics of the theme song to “Who’s The Boss?” say, “Found a trail and at the end was you.”

That line not only serves as the perfect way to summarize the end of our summer vacation, but also something else…

Make sure you don’t miss my next letter.

 

Love,

Daddy

 

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These Are The Years You Get To Be A Kid

June 6, 2014 at 11:12 pm , by

3 years, 6 months.

Dear Jack,

Back around six years ago when Mommy and I got married, I read a book by John Eldredge called Wild At Heart.

It presents the concept that everyone, at some point in the their life, endures a psychological wound.

That “wound” ultimately ends up defining some people; though for others, it makes them stronger.

I experienced mine a while back. It’s that moment in life where you realize life isn’t actually as innoncent or simple as you thought it was.

The older I get, the more I feel like Hans Solo and less like Luke Skywalker.

Or maybe it’s that I feel more like Darth Vader and less like Hans Solo.

As your dad, there’s a part of me that hopes you never have to experience your wound.

But if you didn’t, you wouldn’t be able to reach that level of understanding and maturity that is so crucial as you will eventually grow into true adulthood.

For now, though, I hope it’s something that’s far away. These are the years you get to be a kid.

You get to live in an innocent world where part of you still believes dinosaurs still exist and that Grover from Sesame Street might actually be your teacher next week at school, as I keep teasing you about.

As for me, I’ve lived long enough to have to fight off cynicism. I have to fight off being jaded, at times. I have to remind myself to be positive, despite how blessed our lives are.

The concept of working hard to earn a good living is not something you have to think about right now. You get to sleep all night and play all day.

Seriously, how awesome is your life right now?

Let’s keep it that way. But let’s face life together- with all its blessings, its curses, and everything somewhere in between.

 

Love,

Daddy