As with most parenting, really, really good days are few and far between.
I've had a couple this last winter that I wanted to share with you.
The first involves the 7 year old. He loves to play goalie when it comes to hockey. At the beginning of the season, he was told that his goalie training this year would involve "skating out" as the team had already been assigned a goalie and it wasn't him. He took it in stride and became one of the "skaters."
I helped him dress for the first game of his season last fall. As I was going to fill his water bottle, one of the assistant coaches stopped me and said, "It looks like Andrew might have to play goalie." I said, "Why?" It turns out our goalie hadn't shown up yet. I told the coach that Andrew would do it, but I didn't want to tell him and then take it away from him so we should wait until the last minute in case the goalie showed up.
With 10 minutes to go before game time, guess what happened? The goalie didn't show up. I told Andrew he was going to be goalie and he pumped his fist while saying a big "Yesssssss!" We quickly changed him from a skater to a goalie with some help.
As he got on the ice, I thought about the fact that he had not practiced goalie for about 6 weeks or so. I figured if the other team scored 5 or fewer goals, that would be a good game for Andrew. By the end of the 1st period, he had a shutout! By the end of the second, his team was up 2-1! Mid way into the 3rd, our team scored again. I was getting nervous and excited because he was doing so well! All of the parents around me were impressed with his play. The other team got one more break away - their 5th - and this time they scored. Andrew had stopped the other 4 breakaways! The final was 3-2 our favor!
At this point, I must back up and mention that the goalie showed up during the 2nd period. The coach left him on the bench for the entire game.
In the locker room, Andrew was getting a LOT of high fives and "atta boys." He had played very well. I was very proud.
When we got to the car, I congratulated him one more time and told him how proud I was of his play and the fact that he was willing to play goalie even though he had not been chosen to be the regular goalie. At that point he said that he was a little sad. "Why," I said. He replied that he was sad because the regular goalie had not gotten to play at all. I said, "Andrew! I am MORE proud of the fact that you cared what happened to your teammate than the fact that you played well. I am very impressed."
Here was a 7 year old who had played phenomenally for his age and had received a lot of praise for doing so and his biggest concern was how his teammate was feeling. I would love to tell you that I taught him that, but I can't. He may have learned it from me, but more likely it is something God built into him. Wow!
The second large proud dad day was this week. Our oldest who is almost 22 has been an intern at a local company since September. This week was his second "mid-rotation" review. It's a time where his real supervisor talks with us about his job performance. The first review he had last fall in the "building and grounds" area was moderate. His supervisor had some good things to say and some areas to work on.
The supervisor from this rotation in the kitchen walked in and said that he had no complaints so we could all leave the meeting room. He was actually pretty serious. He went on to say that Josh has mastered everything that he has asked him to do! He practically guaranteed that if a company called for a reference for Josh, he would ensure Josh would get the job! This was a dramatic improvement from his first rotation.
We learned that Josh likes the area better. We learned that tasks that are in a predictable order each day are better for Josh. He still likes some variability, but if it's in a specific pattern, he works hard and gets the job done - even when some speed is required - a very hard thing most of the time.
He had even taken some initiative to complete an extra task that was not required of him! We have been working on initiative for a LONG time.
When I left the building and got in the car, I was so pumped that I cried! Yep, I couldn't believe what I had just heard. It was very rewarding to know that the time Laura and I have spent working with him had shown some dividends.
As I said at the top of this post - Good Dad Days are few and far between, but these two will be etched in my mind for a long time!
