Circle of Trust

I took my M and 2.0’s  to northern Michigan to a remote cabin just to escape my 4 walls for a few days.  While we were up there, we found a private ski instructor to get teach the kiddos.  As a southside mutt, to have my kids in ski lessons is unthinkable.  You can call me Rockefeller from now on because I felt as high class as I’ve ever felt in my life.  Keep in mind, my wife is not from the southside, knows how to ski, and found me entirely ridiculous.  After the lessons, she took the kids out skiing for the aftern0on.  Prior to that however, I decided to regale my family with the one and only time I ever went skiing.  As I began my yarn, the kids leaned in and my M went to her phone with an eye roll.

I was 13 years old and we took a bus up to some place in Wisconsin.  I’m sure I skied in jeans and a bandana.  Attempting a more aggressive run, I fell hard.  Some d*uche bag snow boarder came up behind me and sprayed me with snow as a lay helplessly on the ground.  Unbeknownst to him though, my best friend and future inmate at the Cook County Correctional facility was right behind him.  Using a ski poll, he whacked the guy in the back of the legs and sent him face first into the snow.  At this point, another friend joined in and the 3 of us began to pummel said snow boarder.  The fun came to an abrupt stop as the snow boarder’s friends arrived and considering they were a good 3 years older than us, we decided to high tail it into the woods.  2 of us ran on foot while our 3rd skied away.  Poor choice because he eventually hit a tree and broke his wrist.  Thus my skiing days came to an end.

Needless to say, the kids were enthralled with my idiotic story.  Fast forward to my kids on the slopes with my M that afternoon.  When my 11 year old son and twin 9 year old daughters saw a skier spray snow on another person, it was go time.  With fire in their bellies and stink in their eyes, they were ready to take care of business.  My horrified M pulled them back and questioned why on earth they would want to physically attack another skier.  The 2.0’s relayed the story I had told earlier that she had missed while looking at her phone.

Moral of the story and the challenge I have for all of you in 2021 is to put your phone down.  Be present with your kids or you’ll miss them growing up.  Worse yet, your kids might end up in the clink because they listened to Nacho Libre and you weren’t there to stop it.

Prayer – God, help me to remember that I will face nothing today that you and I together can’t handle.