Maybe All You Need Are Comfortable Shoes?

There are guidelines that are supposed to prevent people from encountering a drunk and disorderly Smokey The Bear.

I suppose that is a good thing because one hopes that some of our heroes never cross that line between permissible decorum and shit that will get you thrown out of a bar.

Those of you playing the home game may wonder if I have intimate knowledge about what it takes to get kicked out of a bar and to you I would say…not a bar.

But I was kicked out of a pet store when I was seven. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time because I watched an older kid mess around with the animals and consequently we were both expelled from the store.

I don’t remember what he did but I remember the incident because I didn’t know the other boy and didn’t do anything but was tarred and feathered by his misdeeds anyway.

Call it an early lesson in learning that life isn’t always fair.

However in the interest of full disclosure I’ll acknowledge I was once kicked out of a party at an apartment for reasons I can’t entirely remember.

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I was about twenty and very drunk.

The guys tell me that four guys picked me up and physically threw me out the front door. They also say that I was lucky because I offered to fight all four…at the same time.

I like to think the other four feared my inner Wolverine or Batman and that is why it didn’t happen.

But I’ll lay odds that since I successfully prevented two of them from tossing me out the collective group decided that it was smarter not to engage with an idiot who wasn’t feeling any pain.

Thankfully this didn’t take place in the age of social media or my idiocy might be part of a digital footprint that followed me around forever.

The Traveling Jack Show Goes On The Road Again

It won’t be long before the Traveling Jack show goes on the road again.

Won’t be long before I’ll stuff myself into a tin can in a space better suited to a ten-year-old boy for an extended period of time.

Won’t be long before I’ll be in a position to look at the current circumstances and gain some more clarity about existing situations and perhaps be able to make decisions based upon hard data and not gut feelings.

Or at least that is the hope and the dream, the reality is probably far different.

The reality is probably closer to being told you are the right guy and that you have all that is needed but good timing.

Matter of fact I have been told that before and if I listen carefully I can hear the echo of said words in my head as well as my response.

Again for those of you playing the home game I’ll share I don’t always accept what I am told because people often say the things they think they need to say or the things that don’t force them to fight inertia.

They aren’t always in line with what they really want or believe, just what is easy and being a grade A knucklehead I am the guy who has often chosen to do things the hard way so I am a natural for going against the grain.

I like to think my Taurean nature and willingness to push further than the crowd serves me well. I like to think that the big victories are based upon hard work, a willingness to do the little things will be the reason I get to where I want to be.

But sometimes I wonder about luck and coincidence because hard work doesn’t always pay off the way we hope it will.

Father Knows Best

Confession: I roll my eyes at the parents who say they are fighting for their children when they tell me how important Target’s move to not mention gender is.

I roll my eyes at the push to make everything gender neutral so that boys and girls will have equal opportunities to choose what to play with.

Some of it is based upon my biases and some of it is based upon what I see with my son and daughter because I have given them choices and watched time and time again as they have gone towards the traditional choice.

I am not worried that they are being hurt by this any more than I worry that other children will be hurt by removing labels. I think it is silly, but I see no need to try and prevent it.

Anyhoo, one of the areas I see the biggest differences in my kids is in how they respond to people and how they tell stories.

My daughter includes every detail and pays very close attention to facial expressions and tone of voice whereas my son doesn’t.

She is prone to analyzing how something was said and what was meant by it whereas my son rarely does.

I like listening to both of them and have made it clear I am always happy to lend an ear.

Not so long ago my daughter told me about how some other girls were behaving and got angry because I asked her if she ever wondered if maybe these girls said exactly what they mean.

“Maybe there is nothing more than what you see/hear.”

Later that night I lay in bed and reminded myself it is good advice to adhere to and that sometimes you should take what you hear as being the truth.

And then I shook my head because I have spent far too much time around duplicitous people who made me question their motives and actions.

Sometimes simple is best so I’ll keep following my gut and see where it takes me and when they ask for advice I’ll know what to say.

Maybe all we need are comfortable shoes.

• Saved: Children, Life