Climbing Walls and Knocking them Down

Children are different in many ways. This is true in all aspects. Physical, mental, emotional, and developmental are but a few. All have different hopes and fears that can guide or confuse what they want.

We as parents have a duty to help them figure out what path through life is best for them. I don’t believe we should dictate the path. I see it more as advising and guiding them toward the best path for the individual child, letting them make their mistakes so that they can learn from them.
For some children heights are not an issue. For others it is a really big deal. I was able to be there when my son made a huge accomplishment this summer. He, like his grandfather, and yes me his dad, is afraid of heights.

While we were at Cub Scout adventure camp this summer the boys were given the opportunity to climb a twenty foot vertical wall. I’ll have you know that twenty feet, especially when it is straight up is a huge distance. Jeremy (seven years old) and I sat in line watching all the boys from his den climb this wall. Each boy, including Jeremy, had a climbing harness and helmet on. One at a time the boys would stand, hook up to the belaying line, and call out, “on belay!” The belayer would answer back, “belay on!” Then the climber would get his first hand hold and call out, “climbing!” “Climb on!” the belayer would answer. Up the boy would go quick as a cat up a tree and honk the horn mounted at the top. During all of this as we kept getting closer I could feel the tension raising in my boy. Just before he got up for his turn I squeezed his shoulder and told him that all I ever want to see is his best, that I didn’t care if he made it up all the way I just wanted him to try and to do his best at it.

I can still see and feel his tension as I write this. I wanted so much for him to succeed and banish that hight demon. He hooked up and called out his commands, got his answers and started to climb. Slowly he climbed five feet and froze he couldn’t go on. Finally he had to call out, “descend!” answered by a, “descending” and down he came. He was devastated. I have to give all the boys credit that were there. They all cheered and told him he did great and that it was cool. He would make it. He came to me and I hugged him telling him how proud I was that he did his best and that it was great he made it as high as he did. He squared his shoulders and got a determined look and asked if he could try again. Sure he could if he wanted to. He got back in line. He tried three more times, each time getting just a bit higher on that wall. Each time getting more support from his friends, every man and boy there willing him to move up to the next foot hold and the next hand hold. All activities would stop and everyone would concentrate, helping him, and cheering him on. The fourth retry he moved ever so slowly up that dang wall till he made it to the top and honked that horn! Everyone went nuts cheering him almost to the point where the belayer couldn’t hear him call out, “descending!”

It was one of the proudest moments of my life standing back watching him do this by himself and seeing him succeed. I never told him he had to make it up. There was never any pressure from me for him to make it all the way. I just made it known that I wanted him to do his best, whatever that may be. I believe that this is what made the accomplishment so great. It was all him doing his best.

New Dog

We may possibly be getting a new dog. We’ve been talking about this for quite some time since we had to put our last dog down last October. I wanted to get some work done on the yard. You know… puppy proofing and such first. I got a lot done, thank God, because my mom called me last night (Jeremy is with her for this week) and told me that she may be rescuing a dog and Jeremy is in love with it.

It’s a female Jack Russel, Australian Shepherd mix that’s about a year and some months old. My mom says she’s very smart (no kidding with that mix), white with gray/brown splotches, medium length course hair, and bigger than a Jack Russel, but not quite as big as a standard Australian Shepherd.

My DW and I think this will be a good dog. My mom rescued our last dog and gave him to me and he was an excellent fit, so if she thinks this dog is right for us I tend to believe her. Hopefully we can have her. The problem is that my mom doesn’t know if she can get her away from the abusive home. The way she found out about it was that the girlfriend of the owners son took her to my mom because the guy was abusing her. So there may be difficulties getting her. Hopefully everything works out well for all of us. We would give that dog a great home and family, and she would help fill that empty spot left by my last dog.

Profundity

Sitting here at work during my lunch break I felt this overwhelming desire to write something profound (the bull shit bug bit me). So what profundity do I have to share with any and all? PROFUNDITY.

I pulled the word profundity from the nether regions of my brain. Yes I know I need to clean back there more often. I was pretty sure of the definition, but decided to look it up anyway.

profundity

NOUN:
pl. profundities

Great depth.

Depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning.

Something profound or abstruse.

It’s not used too often, at least not in my circles. Of course in my circles great depth is considered a place to fish; Intellect is one of them computer companies; feeling is what you do in the dark to find your beer; and abstruse is one of them exercise machines used to tighten the belly.

I am now done waisting your time with useless drivel. This has been more of an anti-profundity for three reasons.

It was pretty shallow.

Intellect was lost, feeling was numb, and meaning was absent.

It was something superficial or exoteric.

Or has it really been a profundity? I guess it depends on if you can belch your ABC’s.

Father’s Day Camp Out

We had a lot, and I do mean al lot of fun. Though I am drag assed tired now. On Friday we got to the camp ground late in the afternoon and set up camp and got dinner ready just as it was getting dark. The new tent went up slick as heck. The next morning we went fishing with all the boys from the pack that showed up. It was the first time for Jeremy. We fished till lunch time. After lunch we hiked two miles to a cool water fall and then back. All up hill I swear! Saturday night we had a pot luck dinner that was great. It’s amazing the stuff that people can come up with while camping.

This morning we got up and broke camp, packed up, then went to breakfast at the local diner near the camp. All the boys gave the dads there gifts and we all had a great send off breakfast. We got home earlier this after noon and this is the first chance I have had to get in here and share.

Jeremy Fishing

Me and Jeremy Fishing

Me and Jeremy by the falls we hiked up to

Jeremy on the hike

Jeremy in his section of tent

Another Year

Today is my birthday, so technichally I'm a year older…. okay, so positiviely I'm a year older. I don't feel older and I know I think younger. I have so many friends pulling this old man bullshit. I'm too old for this, or my aching old bones. Sure my bones ache, but they've aways ached after strenuous activity and I know that they ache, not because I am old, but because I'm fat and out of shape. Sure it's getting harder to lose the weight and I don't heal quite as fast, but to throw in the towl at such a young age is insane. This doesn't mean that I am going to go out and join every adult leauge sports team I can find to prove my manhood or that I am still young. I didn't do that when I was younger, so why the hell should I start now?

My goal in life is to have fun and enjoy my youth till the day I die of old age. I want to run and play with my son and then be around to do stuff with my grand children.

Here's to another year of life's adventure!