Adventures to come

I watch 6News Good Morning Indiana while I get ready on work mornings. Weather guesser Paul Poteet has a sharp, fast wit, and I can usually use a laugh at 5:30 in the morning. (I would have killed for Paul’s wit when I did radio years ago.)

I think I’ve left more comments on Good Morning Indiana’s blog than anybody. Anchor Grace Trahan writes every morning, usually about the show but sometimes about her family. Today she wrote about taking her oldest son to his first day of kindergarten. My loyal readers (all three of you) know that kindergarten, memories of which appear here and here, has been a favorite topic.

I was excited for my sons on the days they started kindergarten. I left for work late so I could see them board the school bus. I could almost feel them growing up as they climbed the steps, their hands on the rail and their superhero backpacks hanging low. I’m sure my grin looked plenty goofy as I watched them go.

One son was absolutely thrilled to get to ride the bus. He had watched his stepbrother do it for years and was just sure it must be awesome and a real sign of being big. When I came home that afternoon, he chattered for a long time about the bus ride, telling me every detail. He mentioned that the school thing was okay too. His younger brother seemed unsure and nervous when his turn came, but because his bigger brother was there to show him the ropes, he did fine. I came home to find out he wasn’t very excited about school, though.

Somebody once told me that mothers always want their children to stay children just a little bit longer, while fathers are excited to watch their children to grow up. This seemed to hold true for my sons’ mother and me. When the boys first boarded the bus, she mourned losing that bit of their littleness. I think she was like many other moms in that she also worried about the risks and dangers that could lie ahead. In contrast, I was excited because of the adventures and opportunities they would encounter. I love to see my sons reach new levels, whether it be learning to ride a bike, catching their first fish, starting middle school, or getting a driver’s license. I want to see them become more independent so they can increasingly make their way in the world and experience life’s goodness.

Still, I am glad for my sons as they are today. As I write this, my sons are playing in the living room as boys do, running around making laser and explosion sounds. I’m sure that one day I’ll wish I could return to today, just for a little while, to hear them play again. But I’ll be more than satisfied on that day if I can sit around the kitchen table with my grown sons, listening to stories of their adventures.


Comments

8 responses to “Adventures to come”

  1. Dani Avatar
    Dani

    For the most part in my home, it’s Dad who struggles with the boys growing up and letting go. However, my eldest’s first day of kindergarten was pretty tough for Mom. The two of us started the morning with breakfast at the local pancake establishment. From there we went to the daycare where we waited for the bus. Okay, so yes, I cried as he got on the bus but I didn’t go through all the supply of tissue I had tucked away. At least not then. It came in handy throughout the rest of the day while I stayed at home watching for the clock for school to be over. We live two blocks from the school and I took the day off to be near, you know, “just in case” I was needed. I arrived at the daycare an hour before the bus was scheduled to come because I didn’t want to be late and miss a Kodak moment of my big boy getting off the bus. Like he was going to look different than in the picture taken earlier in the morning before getting on the bus. (rolling of eyes) It was very different with his younger brother. We still did the pancake breakfast but Mom was much more composed and “able” to go to work that day.

  2. Jim Avatar

    Funny how it’s easier the second time around!

  3. Michael Avatar

    Happy birthday, old man. Join the nearing the top of the hill gang!

    Peace

  4. Jim Avatar

    This former avid bike rider always preferred going down the hill because I could feel the wind blowing through my hair!

  5. Hi Jim Avatar

    Hi Jim
    I like your site and the deal about the roads. I have been shooting video from my motorcycle the last few years.

  6. Hi Jim Avatar

    I like you site Jim. I have been video the roads here in Indiana the last few years from my motorcycle and post the videos on my website.

  7. Jim Avatar

    Hey, thanks for the visit! I checked out your pages and it looks like you like to ride the same places I like to drive, esp. around Leavenworth. SR 62 and SR 66 along the Ohio are just awesome. I think that some of my road trips would be better on a motorcycle. So often I see a place where I want to take a photo so others can see the glory of the road, but there’s no place to put my car! I’ll bet I could get a bike off the road in those places all right.

  8. tinahdee Avatar

    Did I ever thank you for this? (no, I didn’t.) I was reading through some stuff today and I really needed to “hear” this comment today (so thanks):

    “I’ve been thinking lately about the difference, if you will, between “human being” and “human doing” and how it relates to my relationship with Jesus. I have wanted to do, do, do for him, and then find myself wiped at the end of the day with no time just to be with him, as you say. Last fall I went on an annual mission trip to Mexico. We usually do construction work; hot, hard labor. This time, we got down there and there wasn’t much work for us to do. I installed computers in a preschool all week, and even that didn’t completely fill the time. And one warm afternoon I went and sat alone outside and prayed, and began to feel God in everything around me — the breeze as it blew through my hair and across my skin, the filthy little dog who always ran around the joint who came and put his chin on my knee and looked up at me, the goats on the other side of the fence kicking up dust and being stupid like goats do. I felt all of these things magnified a hundred times over how I normally experienced them. It was as if God was telling me, “I’m over here, Jim, over here, not so much in all that work you come here to do. Don’t forget me, don’t forget to come outside and sit alone with me, because I’m out here where life is.””

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