The Road Less Traveled

When my first daughter was born, I decided I wanted to be a father who encourages discovery and curiosity.  This, of course, means that I could not lose my temper with my kids as they bombarded me with, “Why?  Why?  What’s that do?  Why?”  I’m not perfect, so sometimes this “curiosity fostering father” thing ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.  Yesterday, however, I remembered why I had made such a decision.

Not every father would risk losing a finger for his daughter, but that’s exactly what I did as I scooped a really big snapping turtle out of the ditch of water in our back yard.  He was massive and probably weighed around ten pounds.  My oldest daughter was standing at the sliding glass door, watching intently, but not daring to move.  (Her sister was unfortunately asleep.)  I carried him closer and she stared, wide-eyed and curious.  It was priceless.  I knew she was thinking how brave I was to carry something to her that could remove a digit from my hand.  For the few minutes I held him, I owned the world.

She bombarded me with questions:  “What kind of turtle is that?  Why is he so big?  Is he mean?  Do other turtles bite like that?  Why does he want to bite you?”  And let’s not forget my favorite:  “Can we keep him?”  Truth is, if I had a place to put him where he could survive happily and where I could be sure no little girl fingers could get in, I would have kept him, just for her.

But, I set him down in the grass and we watched together as he crawled slowly back to the water.  His shell could be seen for a few seconds at the top before he swam down and disappeared.

I was happy and, yes, a little proud of myself, that yet again my I got a chance to spark my daughter’s curiosity.  This weekend, I think I am going to take them back to the lake again, to walk the trail.  We usually get lucky and spot chipmunks, squirrels, and all sorts of birds that I get to name and answer bombarding questions about.  This is why I knew I wanted to be a father, why I am glad that I have the responsibility to teach my own children about their world.

As much as I have enjoyed the Summer Institute, man it feels great to be home. I’m about to go upstairs and take a nap. Well, at least until 5:30 when I have to take my youngest daughter to dance class.

Oh, that reminds me. Look for me to be posting my experiences with couples dancing in the fall. Not only am I taking a class, I’m going to be in a recital. The instructor said I’d better put on my dancing shoes because we’re doing something with disco. It should be fun.

Random time! Here’s a video from Shinedown. This is my first time embedding a video on this blog, so I hope it works. It’s their version of “Simple Man.” They cut a lot out for the video, but I still love it. This is one of may favorite songs of all time. I love the Skynrd version, but this guy’s voice is just amazing.

Until later, remember: “There’s no turning back now that you’ve opened up to your mind.”

A few months ago, my wife told me she was tired of our cable service and wanted to switch to DirecTV.  I was reluctant.  Our cable service offered on demand movies and shows.  Every month I wore out episodes of Six Feet Under, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and Entourage.  I was very reluctant to get rid of our cable.

I’m proud to say, though, that as often as possible I have put my wife’s wishes above my own.  We canceled our cable and called up DirecTV.  As if rewarding me for my sacrifice, she ordered the package that included a DVR.  She also filled out a form to receive a free portable DVD player just for signing up.

This is why I have never regretted agreeing to my wife’s wishes.  Some men grumble about pride and keeping their manhood.  I’ll be the first to admit that I’m an idiot when it comes to most important decisions.  Nearly every time I have ignored her wishes, I have been wrong and everything fell apart.  Every time I have agreed to her choices, she has been right.  Can’t argue with those statistics.

Anyway, once again she was right.  I have wore out the DVR, recording some classic movies I haven’t watched for quite a while, some I just love, and others I’ve never seen at all.  Right now,  I have Raging Bull, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, and Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind on there.  Eternal Sunshine is a favorite of mine.  I’ve watched it six times since I recorded it.  Raging Bull I’ve never seen.  And The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is just a great film I haven’t seen for a while.

So, once again I trusted my wife’s decisions and once again I made the right choice.  I don;t know why a lot of men have a problem with that.  When you get married, you vow to trust each other completely, right?  Does that promise get lost somewhere?  My wife has never given me a reason not to trust her.  I can’t say the same for myself because I’m a goof who would lose his shirt if it wasn’t on his back.  But she has never jeopardized my trust.  It’s one of the reasons why I love her.

Men, trust your wives.  They deserve it.