Hold My Hand Daddy

Quietly, and without a word she reached out her hand in support and I took it and held on tightly thankful for her knowledge.

Every year we go to the fair with Netter’s family. We have a route we follow, meeting at the Cardinal, onto Dinky Donuts, a stop in the grassy area near the Rhodes Center, then through the sheep barns, next to the pigs and the horses and the steers, onward to Fine Arts followed by lunch at ODNR. It’s all very scripted, but somehow new and fresh every year. A good time with family. We visit. We laugh. We have fun.

One year, I decided that I would take all of the kids on the Giant Slide. The 7 of them, and me. It was my thing. I bought the tickets. I called for the lineup. I took over at the top of the slide to make sure we all got to go at the same time. “Uncle Jim’s Slide” was an annual thing. Something I looked forward to very much. The kids all knew how much it meant to me and even as they were getting older they still humored me and went along for the ride. They got it.

Unfortunately, I don’t think their parents ever did. Each year, despite my insistence that it was my treat, my thing, Netter’s sisters and their husbands would insist on trying to pay for the tickets, and each year she would tell them “It’s Jim thing. You don’t have to pay. He wants to do this.”

And I did. I really, really did.

Last Saturday however, marked the end of an era for Uncle Jim’s slide ride and I found out just how much the slide had become part of the routine.

You may have heard me talk a bit about K’s involvement with the All Ohio State Fair Youth Choir. K loves the choir. We all love going to listen to her sing and visiting her as often as possible. But one of the things about visiting K is that we have to follow the Choir schedule and guidelines for being able to see her. This means among other things that we have to walk to the dorms to pick her up. It’s a very good idea actually. The Choir kids are not to be alone on the fairgrounds for safety reasons. Usually, this means a  little extra walking, but it’s a minor inconvenience and I can use the exercise. On the day that the family comes to the fair though it can throw a major wrench into the routine.

So on Saturday while Netter and I hustled to get K from the dorm after the 4:00 parade the family went to buy slide tickets and the kids went on the slide without us.

We arrived just as they were ascending the stairs. K and I really didn’t know what to do. “We didn’t know you were coming,” my mother-in-law said.

Sure enough later I would look at my phone and see that while we were running across the fairgrounds to get to the slide, my youngest, D was texting and calling and I just didn’t feel the vibrate.

Still, at that moment, I was in shock. I didn’t know what to do. My tradition, one of the things I most looked forward to at the fair had been taken away. Uncle Jim was very disappointed.

I spun around, and kicked the air. I think a blue word or two escaped my lips, but I tried to stay clear of the family because I didn’t want to argue. I knew that when rational thought took over I would see their reasoning and everything would, (eventually) be okay.

I asked Kailey if she wanted to ride the slide. She said, “No, well only if you do Daddy,” and I decided that I didn’t. She needed to eat something before her next concert and I had promised her some fair corn. I told her to tell her Grandma we were getting something to eat and asked them to wait for us to come back and we walked away.

A lump formed in my throat and tears welled up in my eyes. I thought to myself, Well there’s nothing special about the slide at the fair anymore. The kids were all growing up anyway. I’m sure it’s not big deal. But it was... And then it happened

My little girl reached out her hand to me. My little girl once more. Not a word was spoken, or glance exchanged, but the meaning was clear. K, oh wise K, knew that her Daddy needed her, that he needed to walk with his little girl.

Yeah, the lump in my throat got bigger, but that was okay.

Hand in hand we walked to the corn stand, and with a final kiss in the air we let go our hands and continued our day. We finished our corn, and K said goodbye to the family before I returned her to the dorms to line up for the next concert.

I talked to Netter about the slide a little bit. We both agreed that nobody meant any harm. They were just trying to follow the plan, the routine, and they obviously had no idea how much that meant to me.

It’s all good, as they say.

While I did lose something that day, just for that fleeting moment in time I had my little girl once again.

I’ll take the trade.

Shout to the Lord

Netter has been chronicling K's great adventure over at Practically Netter, but I wanted to share this from our visit to the fair yesterday.

They really got me with this one. From 1:22 on it got pretty misty - yeah misty.

My Girls

Warning - what follows is pure unmitigated bragging by a proud, proud Daddy.

One of my players is visiting tonight. Kel and K have been friends since they started playing b-ball together in the way back and despite the fact that they now go to different schools, rarely see each other, and are lucky to share only the occasional phone call or MySpace communication they are usually thick as thieves within minutes of seeing one another.

This is fine. Netter and I love Kel and we are both really glad that K has such a good friend.

Having Kel here reminds me that I had promised to brag on my girls in an upcoming blog so tonight - here I go.

I want to start with Miss D as her accomplishments haven't been quite as flashy, or jazzy as her older sister - which really just means that D is all about showing up and doing the job. It also means she gets to be first so she knows how important that quality is.

For the better part of the last 2+ years (as detailed in Mommy's blog post in early September) our young lady has garnered nothing but A's on her report card.

D has also been a standout in the band playing the trumpet so well that high school instructors and conductors are already keeping an eye out for her arrival.



D has always been an accomplished artist, but I don't know that we've ever shared her award winning water color from The Ohio State Fair which Mommy later used as inspiration to decorate at least one of the rooms in our house (We are waiting for Netter to scan the photo).

Miss D is never far from pad and paper.

D gave up basketball this year and I think she thought I might lose interest, or I would be disappointed in her somehow.

Nothing could be further from the truth. I want my girls to do things for themselves, not for me. As long as D is happy and doing something with her time - I'm a very proud Daddy.




Ms. K also gave up basketball and sports, but of course that was 2 years ago. Well, K did run with the varsity basketball team at her high school for one practice (she had missed tryouts).

When K got in the car the conversation went something like this:

Me: Hey K. How'd it go?

K: Um, pant, pant, gasp, gasp, Daddy pant, gasp, I think pant, gasp I'm going to stay pant, gasp, pant, gasp with pant, choir gasp, pant and pant, drama.

Me: A little tiring eh? Okay K, but I don't ever want you to tell me again that I, (or Coach Scott) ever made you run hard - again. Because now, I think you know that really, we didn't.

K: No, gasp, problem, pant.

LOL!

So, Kailey took off in drama and choir - while also earning excellent grades I might add.

Here are some recent highlights. K was selected to the District Honor Choir. This is their rendition of America the Beautiful.


Earlier in the year with her own choir K sang Suo Gân. Unfortunately, our batteries went dead as we were filming, but what we did hear was beautiful and the lullaby is one of my all time favorites.


I am extremely proud of both of my girls, and the truth is no matter how many videos or pictures I might post - there would never be enough to show that not only are they very talented young people, they are also fine young ladies.

I love you girls!