Proud dad

My facebook status says I'm a proud dad. The good kind of proud. Here's why.

The big Ethan man joined Cubs this year, or Boy Scouts if you're Cubiliterate. The first few weeks was a fight to get him to go. He didn't know anyone, didn't know what to expect and he really didn't want to wear the uniform. Ethan's not a uniformy kind of guy. Anyways, we've kept him in and each week he's complained less and less (he's yet to recieve his uniform so that may be playing a role). Over time he's been crowned Champion of the annual Kub Kar Races and he's even made a Cub friend named Jake. When he first starting attending he'd say to me "Just so you know, I'm not gonna make a friend just to make a friend, besides we may not even end up living here so it would be a waste of time," -which. . .the boy's got a point, but what 8 yr old is that practical? Still he's come a long way and is graduallly becoming more people brave. Especially after this past weekend.

Last Tuesday at Cubs, they passed out forms for this Star Wars themed camp that was in 3 days. Not much notice I thought to myself but still the camp sounded amazing. I thought it would be too bad Ethan wouldn't be there. (it was 3 days long and an hour and a half away). Seconds after I made Ethan's mind up for him, he trotted up to me with the form and said "so, guess I got camp this weekend." Yes you do I said, trying to hide my shock.

When I dropped him off on Friday, he fought back tears a bit but finally composed himself, gave me a tight smile and said "see you in 3 days." Walking back to the car I had tears of my own inspired by an 8 year old who fought fear for the greater good. I had given one of his leaders my cell phone number and expected it to ring of the hook all weekend but Ethan didn't call once (even though I carried it everywhere). In fact I was the one who finally caved, calling his Scout leader. When he answered he was like" uh, he's having fun, so why don't you just let him have fun." I hung up a tad embarassed as I never thought I was "that" parent. When we picked him up on Sunday he was beating a girl mercilessly with his styrofoam Lightsaber which is noble, right. Guess he had fun I said to the Scout leader. ha. As we drove away, Ethan asked me why I was wearing suit. Truth be told, I was wearing jeans, crocs and a button up I got on clearance at Sport Chek which has since made me think I must suck at style. Wow. So bad.

Actually, speaking of no style, yesterday morning I walked out in what I thought was a pretty snazzy church outfit. Maddie looked up from her cereal and said "hmm, nice dad" and then quickly looked down. As we headed out the door I put on my crocs which I guess was too much because Maddie said "No dad, you can't. You can't wear Crocs with that outfit. Maybe if you wore jeans it would work." I looked down at my cream pants, white button up and newly wiped shiny black crocs and knew she was right. I changed quickly and was a little shamed by the stark relief in my 10 year old's face. Apparently my sense of style is unemployed too.

I could make this post even longer and brag about my other kids like how Maddie's taken up basketball with me, learning things like how Beef and picturing a phone booth can actually help your arc and I could even rave about Alexa and how in this entire 6 month adventure of unemployment she's never complained once about our cramped living arrangement. I could even rave about my wife, having to wait nearly a year before having a nest once more but that would take too long, so I'll just say it again. This time louder and a little bit prouder.

I'm a proud Dad. The good kind of proud.

John

P.S. Job hunt is going great. Prospects are really good. More on that soon.