There’s no man like a Snowman!

The recent chilly weather got me thinking. 

Do you remember the old classic Heinz commercial where a little boy stared into a full ketchup bottle waiting for the object of his desire to emerge on to his plate while the background music played, “Anticipation, anticipation…”  Well, for some reason that is how I feel about the upcoming winter in Alabama.  I am literally praying that we might see some of that freezing white fun they call snow sometime this winter.  For all of us in the middle portion of the state it has been years since we have seen any real accumulation.  As a matter of fact, of my three kids only the oldest can remember ever seeing snow in our yard.  Now you may think I am being selfish, but I don’t think any growing child should be deprived of the unique opportunity to pelt his or her sibling with a tightly packed ball of fresh powder.  I also think every child should have an Alabama memory of sledding full speed down a deserted wintry street past his newly created snowman and crashing headlong into a snowbank in front of the neighbor’s house.  But alas, perhaps my dreams are in vain.

The problem is this.  It has snowed here before.  As a matter of fact our last big snow was over eight inches!  (Okay you northerners…you can stop snickering, now…)  So, we have had a taste of the good life.  That is why it is so hard to deal with the current situation.  I really want to share a snow day or two with my family before they are grown.  I would love to wake up to the sound of silence in the streets and the radio declaration that, “Everything is closed!  Stay home and go crazy with your wife and your kids!”  That would be the greatest opportunity in the world for me, a blog waiting to happen!  Will it?  We’ll see.

From my desktop to yours…hopefully, it will be another Alabama memory!

My Little Girl

       Okay, it’s time to get sentimental.  If you know me at all you know how much my family means to me.  They are the gift greater than all gifts in my life and I cherish each one of them, especially my little girl.  While I was growing up I was surrounded by my brother and my parents.  So, when my wife and I had two boys, our family seemed very familiar.  I was in my domain.  It was very comfortable.  Then, along came my little girl and life has never been the same.

       For most of my life girls have been an unsolvable mystery.  Even still I hold this to be true today, but with less intensity than during my youth.  During my younger days I was extremely insecure around the opposite sex.  I knew they were supposed to be ordinary people like anyone else, but I wasn’t really sure how to act around them.  So, with that background in mind, along with my “comfortable” family of three guys and my wife, imagine my thoughts when the doctor cried out, “It’s a girl!”

       I cried when my little girl was born.  I cried when all of my children were born.  As a matter of fact, I don’t see how anyone who witnesses a child being born can keep from crying.  Anyway, after I finished crying, I realized what had just happened.  I was now the father of a new little girl.  The whole idea was just downright crazy!  How could I be expected to raise a child of the opposite sex?  How could I take care of something or someone that had been so mysterious and alien to me for the majority of my life?  Eventually, my anxiety calmed.  I realized I was not alone in my new responsibilities.  I’m not sure I have ever been more thankful for my wife.  After all (stating the absolute obvious) she is a girl!  She would know what to do.

As my little girl has grown to the age of six I can truly say that, so far, my fears have been in vain.  So far, it has been an amazing adventure to see a girl growing up.  There have been tough moments, but there were and are tough moments with my boys, too.  The truly amazing thing has been watching my little girl be a little girl, to see the things that set her apart from all of the little boys in the world.

       My little girl can make me smile in a way that no one else can.  She is delicate and yet very strong.  She is dainty while she lifts a twenty pound puppy and carries him to her room.  She is gentle unless she is beating up on her older brothers.  She works hard when she wants and she does things voluntarily that no one else will do.  Granted, she can be stubborn, very stubborn.  At times she will take punishment instead of doing what she is told.  She will never believe that she cannot do anything and everything her older brothers can do.  She loves her friends and her family, and she hates it when people are mean.  She wants to dance ballet and take karate.  She loves books, soccer, movies, green peas, animals, her mommy, and great big hugs.  She also loves to be tickled.

       My little girl is special beyond words and for me, to hold her is to embrace heaven.  For through her God gives me a treasured glimpse of his unconditional love.

From my desktop to yours, it’s another Alabama memory. 

One of my Favorite Toys

When I was growing up in northern Alabama there were many new and innovative toys that crossed my path.  However, none of them were quite as simple and eloquent and the infamous set of “clackers!” 

We used to play with these for hours at a time.  The best of us could get the two hard acrylic marble-looking balls to smash into each other above and below our fingers at amazing rates of speed.  Of course, the faster you got them going the louder the noise!  That made it even more fun!

Unfortunately all good things must come to an end.  When several kids started receiving injuries from these clackers, they were removed from the marketplace.  I could have sworn I heard a collective sigh of relief from parents and educators throughout the United  States when this happened.  I think this toy redefined annoying and obnoxious to the adult world.  But, in my world, they redefined fun!

From my desktop to yours, it’s another Alabama memory!

Heroes

Summertime was and is one of the greatest things about growing up in Alabama.  If you mention the season to me, it brings back memories of swimming pools, fishing, dirtball fights, forts, video games, baseball, fireworks, Frisbees, tennis, camp, and of course, girls.  For boys everywhere growing up ruins summertime.  Before puberty we see the season as one big adventure waiting for us.  The simplest things capture our imaginations.  A stick becomes a golden scabbard; a rock becomes a cannonball.  Our backyard is a time portal to the seven seas or an unknown planet beyond our galaxy.  Our rooms are full of hidden caves and buried treasure.  Every day turns us into a new hero accomplishing a new superhuman task, rescuing civilization and mankind right before Mom calls us in for dinner.  Life is excellent!  And then…puberty.

With puberty comes an awareness of the opposite sex that preoccupies and overwhelms the young male mind, especially during the summer.  Thoughts of adventure and heroism fade into thoughts of insecurity and self-awareness.  The back yard turns into something you mow.  Your room turns into an ordinary room with a mirror on a wall where you can ponder all of the changes your body is undergoing.  Your house turns into a prison and your parents into wardens.  Your brothers and sisters turn into objects of deep envy, reminders of how easy and beautiful life used to be.  Nothing is the same.

If you talk to grown men about this change, most of them will agree; it is a place they never want to visit again!  I believe most of our male adult lives are spent trying to get back to our childhood before puberty, when life was simple and we were heroes.  It is the core of our being.  We want to be heroes.  It can be found in the politician, the CEO, the professional baseball player, the teacher, the engineer, the systems administrator, and every other man on the planet. All of us want to save the day.  We want to be applauded and cheered for liberating civilization from the dark side once again.  If you look hard enough, you can see it.

There are many male responses to this desire for heroism.  Some men pursue it quietly and diligently at work or with their families.  Others will seize the adoration they seek through military, corporate, or social conquest.  Any way you look at it though, it is the foremost task in the heart and mind of the adult male to recapture his back yard youth and to once again become a hero!  Don’t you think?

From my desktop to yours, it’s another Alabama memory.