Will you pick me up?

I like it when the kids ask me to pick them up. I try to make it a habit of always picking them up when they ask. This is probably more for my benefit then theirs. Ok maybe not my backs benefit but my emotional benefit. It is like a moving hug. I sometimes may be busy and have to ask them to wait or walk a little further. But I always wish I could pick them up.

From time to time, Mallory will come to me when I get home from work, and asked to be picked up. I cherish those times the most. They are not tired or cranky they just missed me. I know that they are getting bigger everyday, and someday I will not be able to pick them up. Our moving hugs will be gone.

It makes me think about what this time means to the kids. How cool would it be, if we as adults had some one to physically pick us up and make us warm and protected? A place to rest your head and forget how fast the world is moving around us. So if that is what it feels like how can I say no.

Football: A man’s sport

I know very little about football, what I do know, is from my wife’s love for the Colts. I always ask the same questions when she turns on a game. “What’s a down?” “How may downs are there?” “ How many points is a touch down?” I really know nothing! It is one of those things I have every little interest in. However I do like to watch a game with my wife, she gets so excited, she makes it a lot fun. Take Crista out of the equation, its flat.

Typically the man crowd always assumes that all guys watch football. Cause if you don’t your weird. Well ok, I like being weird! The worst part is when you meet new people and all they seem to want to talk about is football. If you can’t keep up with the conversation it is totally one sided. They talk sports, and I node my head. It is like a communication connection is broke and the person judges you on it. Just once I would like to meet someone new and dive into a time travel debate, or star wars conversation.

Case in point: I traveled to LA for a focus group meeting on a product that we designed at work. When it was all wrapped up, I gave the president of the company a lift back to the airport. I was looking forward to our car ride, so we could discuss future projects and how we could help them out. However, before that could happen, he says “Did you catch that game last night?” (Are you kidding?) I’m hopping to impress the guy and he pulls out kryptonite. I side stepped the direct answer, some how, and proceed on to more work related topics.

I guess I’ll always have to deal with this. It does not really bother me; I just hate to miss the opportunity to get to know people better. Unfortunately sports talk is a dead end for me. I’ll keep trying to pick it up and maybe someday it will all sink in. Then maybe I will not feel so much like an outsider, to the world of football.

Lead by example

I hate to screw things up, but inevitably it happens. I have to always stay mindful of what I do, to make sure that the kids don’t pick up any of my bad habits. I just hope that I make it thru the next twenty or so years and don’t mess the kids up to bad. They are little sponges they suck up every little detail. You may not think they are listening but they see and hear all. It may not even be something you say or do in front of them. What we do is all around us

Case in point; Mason is in the bathroom, after a reasonable amount of time, I go to check on him. He has picked up one of my Muscle and Fitness magazines; he is looking at an article about the lingerie bowl. All I can see is half naked women jumping off the pages that are lying on his lap. He looks up at me and I grab the magazine and tell him to rap it up. I close the door and can’t believe what just happened. He’s five! I had no idea that at five he would want to look at some thing like that. Then I start to get a feeling of pride that at least he is not gay. I quickly realize that is not what I should dwell on here. Then I start to feel bad for having something like that in the house. I go in the kitchen and show the magazine to Crista and her eyes bug out, “what’s that!” After a brief explanation to her, my mind starts going into parent mode, about the conversation I was about to have with mason. I don’t want to screw this up. I am not going into the sex talk, but did have to address this issue.

Moments later, there I sit, with a five year old on one knee and a muscle fitness magazine on the other. We discussed respect for women, and unrealistic expectation of what a woman should look like. I also let him know if he wants to look at the magazine again to let me know and I will flip thru it with him.

This whole thing made me think, what else I might do that he could pick up on. Not only is it what I do, but also how I live and who and what I surround my self with. I will continue to try and be a good role model, I learn more everyday. The kids will probable never know everything they taught me.