We’re about to walk out of the house and my son says “You’re going, too?”  I answered yes.

“It’s almost like we’re a family!”

He doesn’t pull any punches.

“If there’s anything more important than my ego around, I want it caught and shot now.”
- Zaphod Beeblebrox

I try and leave out a lot of the junk I’m dealing with my kids here, just, well, because. I generally don’t deal in a lot of specifics lately. In any case this is a blog about ME. It’s MINE. And I’m making this shit up as I go and don’t want to bore you with particulars.

Even so, I wanted to say that today I reached some sort of bizarre milestone.

In the last six months, I have been sworn in beside my son in front of three different judges in three different jurisdictions – city, county, and state. We hit the trifecta.

All we need is some sort of Federal case and we can call it a jackpot. And probably declare game over.

From the article I linked the other day there is this little bit about living after letting go of the illusion that we control everything:

We stop trying to control others, and focus instead on being kind to them.

Obviously a broad statement, but it came to mind today. My son is struggling with school, with life in general; and this morning he called me at work to ask me to pick him up as he didn’t feel well. He said the nurse told him he was well enough to go to class. I told him to stick with it.

He called back 30 minutes later, more urgent. Said please, again.

I faced a choice – do I make him stay, or do I pick him up and take him home? That’s why this quote came to mind. Do I choose the control option (which was my first reaction) and make him stay in class for the afternoon, or do I just say ok, he’s been struggling, give him the benefit of the doubt and maybe he really is sick, let him go home and rest instead.

I went to the school to talk to him. He didn’t know I was coming, since on the phone I told him he had to try and make it. I watched from the hallway and he looked like he was about to fall asleep, in the front row of the classroom while the teacher talked five feet away.

I decided to take him home for the afternoon, let him sleep, and we’d have a fresh start tomorrow. As I write this he is snoring on the couch. Time will tell if I chose well or poorly.

This is Buc-ee’s.

Buc-ee’s is a ginormous convenience store that you could mistake for a truck stop, however, they do not allow trucks on their property. They are known by travelers in the area for their ultra clean restrooms, souveneers, beaver nuggets, fudge, food, t-shirts, having a huge selection of trail mix and beef jerky (good rooad food, in other words). All kinds of things.

This Buc-ee’s is closest to us, only about 45 minutes away, and you can visit going to or from Dallas. You can usually bribe children into just about any behavior for the drive to Buc-ee’s (they have signs that tell you how great and how far they are – “123 miles” so the kids can work on math and learn about mile markers, too) Right now there are 18 Buc-ee’s, mostly in South-ish Texas, which is why you sometimes have to wait a while when driving to get to one.

I’m not getting paid for this; just a happy customer. Check ‘em out, they’re good.

Have a good night, y’all. See you soon.