Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about what terrific children I have. I wish that all parents felt that way about their kids, but I know that that’s not the case. Fortunately most of the people I am close to have done a wonderful job of raising their kids and they have wonderful children to show for it. The purpose of this post is to let you know why I think my kids are great…I would love to hear you tell me the same about your kids.
I honestly believe that my kids turned out great as much in spite of me as due to me. I never felt committed to any job…I never had a passion for sales. It was something I backed into because I have a natural gift with people…not because I wanted to sell! I am the living embodiment of John Lennon’s warning that “life happens while you’re busy making other plans”. As such, I chased every opportunity and whim which appealed to me at the time. We moved seven times throughout their childhood. They were denied the opportunity so many other kids have to make life long best friends. They had to fit in new surroundings time and time again. In my younger son Jeff’s case, he had to move in his freshman year of high school from an all white high school in Indiana to a school in south Texas which was 87% Hispanic. Talk about culture shock. Yet they have all succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. The only possible explanation is the tremendous job Kathie has done in being their mother. So, if you will bear with me, let me tell you about my kids. If you don’t want to bear with me…see you next post.
My oldest, daughter Jana, has always been a driven and focused girl, now woman. She was the kind of girl that when she was about eleven she enrolled in Red Cross babysitting classes to prepare for future opportunities. She was a National Merit Scholar. Knowing we would have a hard time paying for college, she managed to get a tuition paid scholarship to Bradley University and became a dorm resident counselor so that three of her years were also board free. She graduated from Bradley Summa Cum Laude. Her original major was education but then she met Chad and changed her major to Chad Hennessy. Since he is the best son in law you could want I have no complaints. Jana and Chad have two beautiful sons, Griffin and Cooper, and are adopting a daughter from Ethiopia, Gabrielle. Jana sometimes says that she thinks she is shallow, but in my opinion their commitment to saving a child from a much harsher life is about as non shallow as you can get.
My oldest son Dan is a man who has followed his own course through life. Some of it, especially in his earlier years, was rough on him. He wasn’t blessed with a natural talent for sports which as any boy knows is a great way to build status. He is extremely bright with an unusually insightful perspective of the world which in some cases has marginalized him from the mainstream. Yet he has always been true to himself. He knew that he wanted to observe the world and write about it and make a living doing it. He knew that going to college wasn’t for him so he dropped out during his first semester. I have watched with tremendous pride as he has evolved from writing poetry that he would read in front of five people in a campus bookstore to a nationally recognized writer. His perspective has changed and mellowed with age and he is no longer the cynic he was in his younger days. This week his article on the tornado damage in Alabama will be published nationally in “Parade” magazine. He has written for The Onion, AOL, Spin Magazine, and MTV. And he’s done it all his way. And he says that he is glad his childhood was tough…he feels he wouldn’t be the same person without having gone through it.
My youngest son Jeff is a man who detests change of any kind and yet he has done a remarkable job of handling it. Jeff was forced to move to McAllen, Texas, three miles from the Mexico border, right at the beginning of his freshman year of high school. He had already had to move from Florida to Nebraska to Indiana. Now he had to leave Indiana and an all white school to go to a school and live in a community that was 88% Hispanic and 1500 miles from where he’d been. I’m not saying it was easy for him, but gradually he adjusted and made some of the best friends he has. They are still his friends to this day. Jeff was determined to go away to college so he financed his own loans and worked as a waiter at Olive Garden to help pay the bills. He moved up to waiter in an upscale restaurant after a little while and moved up from there to assistant manager. For the past five years he has been the general manager of one of the more exclusive restaurants in the north Dallas suburbs. I’m not saying it’s expensive…but Kathie and my tip is usually more than what we pay for dinner! He does an amazing job and sometimes I find it hard to believe my baby is all grown up and capable of running such an establishment. He is also a Certified Sommelier (wine expert) so he truly knows his stuff. He’s married to a beautiful girl and has our granddaughter Ella, who just turned two, and they are expecting their next child in November. They are hoping for a boy so they can give him the middle name “Danger”…”my middle name is Danger”. How cool is that?
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