Defending your child -vs- crossing the line

I was sitting on the couch tonight. Finally relaxing after a long week. My wife's phone rang and when she answered it, it was my younger son Tyler. He had just been in a fight. That a boy had walked up and punched him in the head. This is when all rationale leaves and protective instinct takes over. I flew out the door and jumped in the car to find my son.

I found him standing on the side of the road. I could tell he was worked up but, there was no sign of any injuries. I asked him what had happened and he said he and 2 friends were walking down the street and they had exchanged words with another group of kids. One of those kids walked up to Tyler and punched him. I asked him which way the kid went and it took no time at all to find the kid. He was with a group of other kids at this point. I got out of my car and I admit that I was not exactly calm when I asked this kid what his problem was. I was downright pissed that he punched my kid. While I admit I may have been a bit abrupt, I was very careful not to threaten this kid in any way. I must have still scared him though because this kid got right in my face and told me if I touch him, he will own my house, my car, and everything else. What ever happened to respecting adults? This kid had me pissed. However I just looked him straight in the eye and told him I had no intention of laying a finger on him. I told him instead I was going to call the police. He decided that was the time he should be heading home. I demanded his name but of course he refused. So I told him that I can give a complete description of him and that his friends would roll over on him when the cops showed. That didnt phase him and he left.

Now I know my son. He can be a bit of a wise ass at times. I questioned him about what lead up to this fight. Both parties seem to agree that tyler and his group had said something first. Tyler insists that all he said was "Hi people across the street that I don't know!" The other group said that someone from my son's group had called them "faggots." I am sure the truth lies someplace in between. That still does not give this boy the right to punch my son. And both parties agree that it was not my son that took the first swing.

I got tyler back in the car and I got back in myself. I thought about it and decided to skip the police. I had already scared the other kid enough that I am sure he is still waiting for the police to show up. And Tyler said that after the kid punched him, he punched the kid back in the face and the kid walked away. Neither was seriously hurt physically. Let it be a lesson to both. My son needs to learn to not shoot off his mouth and the other boy needs to learn that he can not just punch people over words.....and I need to learn to take a deep breath before reacting next time!

Sometimes it is obvious that God listens

I have fallen on a bit of a difficult economic situation this past week. I will not get into details of blame, but lets just say, my wife's idea of budgeting and lack of disclosure has left us in a situation where the mortgage has almost tripled for the next 3 years. I suppose I should be happy because before I called the bank in a panic, it was over 4 times as much. I told them the keys would be on the counter for them when they came to take the house back. But, after a bit of negotiating I got them down to the triple amount and while it is going to be really tough, it is at least doable.

For the first few days after I learned of this situation, I was a nervous wreck. I couldn't eat or sleep. I had no idea what I was going to do. So, I offered it up to God. I didn't pray to suddenly win the lottery and I didn't ask for money to suddenly grow on trees. I simply asked for the strength and the wisdom to get through this hard time. Well, He heard me.

Not more than 3 hours after offering up my prayer I was driving down the highway and a young girl swerved into the side of my car. My car is damaged but thankfully no one was hurt. Since this was the first day this girl was driving with a license I knew reporting an accident would cost her big. She agreed to pay for the damages. I got an estimate and asked her for only 1/4 of it. I knew the estimate was high. Her dad is going to be sending out the check. When I took my car to the body shop for repairs, the owner of the shop fixed what had to be done and refused to take a dime from me since I had helped him in the past. I still have a small dent but I dont care. I now have several hundred dollars to help me out.

The next day my wife ran to the grocery store for a few things. She spent $18. When she came out of the store, laying on the ground next to her car was a $20 bill. We had dinner for for free that night. 

Last year my wife was forced to close down her business. We owned a gymnastics school. The economic times took a toll and we could no longer operate. (This is part of how we ended up in our mess). We still had all of the equipment. It ended up in my basement. We have slowly been selling it off. There is not a very big market for gymnastics equipment at the moment. Last Friday a woman called to ask about a couple things. Yesterday, she came all the way from NJ with cash in hand and bought $1470 worth of stuff.

While I was not expecting this type of help, I really owe God a big thank you. He has made it a little easier this month and has given me a new sense of peace that everything will be alright. Thank you God!

Random Pic of the Day

This guy was big enough to make my wife scream like she was being murdered. 
While to many of you, this is not very big, here on the island we typically do not get them this large.

Roller Coaster Tuesday

My Tuesday was a definite roller coaster ride. I was off from work because my son Tyler was making his Confirmation. It should have been a relaxing day from the start. However after receiving a notice from my mortgage company that more than doubles my payments, I was not starting off in a happy mood. Still I tried hard to not let the stress ruin what is supposed to be a happy day.

Tyler looked awesome all dressed in his suit and tie. Despite the pouring rain, it was a very nice celebration at the church. After the service we took his sponsor and all the grandparents, and of course Tyler, to a local restaurant for an early dinner. It was nice just sitting around talking to everyone over a good meal.

After the meal I headed home to take Kevin to his therapy appointment. It was still raining heavily so rather than letting him drive for practice, I decided to do the driving. That turned out to be a very wise choice. On the way home, a young girl driving in the right lane decided that she needed to be in the left lane. However, I was already there. I was treated to the sight of her car approaching fast in my direction and a nice loud bang as her car bounced off of mine. I pulled over of course to survey the damage. At first it did not look too bad. I had a small dent and my mirror was hanging off. I also had scuff marks on the side of my car where her tire hit. She called her mom because this was her first day on the new insurance and she only got her license a couple days ago. Her mom showed up and has agreed to pay for the damages rather than have this poor kid lose her license and have her insurance go sky high, I agreed to handle it between us.




I took the car to the body shop today. $1800 in damage! It sure didnt seem that bad until they showed me all the stuff I over looked. I know the owner of the body shop and I am sure he is being fair. I also know he will not charge me that much. So, to be fair, I will call the woman later and ask her to cover only 1/3 of the repairs. As long as the mirror is fixed, the scuff marks are removed and the dent can be minimized, I will be nice about it all. If she decides we should do the insurance instead, I guess I will just let them repair every little thing caused in the accident and not worry about the repercussions this new driver will have. I would really hate to see her lose her license already though. We shall see.

Yeah, yeah. I know I am a slacker

Things have been quite busy in life these days and I know I have been neglecting my blog. Please know however that I do still read all of your blogs on a daily basis. Even if I don't always comment. (Shhh...don't tell my bosses since I am typically at work while I read them).

When I tell you that I have so much to do between now and July, I am probably understating it. My son Tyler makes his confirmation next Tuesday. He also graduates from middle school in June and has his 8th grade formal in there some place. I also have to take him on an OA camp out at the beginning of June. (Scouters will know what OA means).

Kevin graduates high school this year and we will be having a party for that. He also has prom. While that is a big deal as it is, his date lives in Rhode Island which means I need to make time to pick her up at the Ferry on the east end of the island. She will probably be staying a day or two with us. Of course that means I need to paint my daughters room. I am also in the middle of wall papering the upstairs bathroom so she doesnt think we live in a cave. Add in all the stuff we are doing to get him into college.

Kaitlyn has her dance recital in June and there are a couple dress rehearsals for that. As some of you know, I also have two dance numbers in that recital. And because the dads and I are just so awesome at dancing in a tutu, we are doing our dances in a recital for another studio earlier the same day.

Once we get through all of the above, Tyler and I leave for a week of camping in Rhode Island. It will seem strange without Kevin this year. He finally found a job. He works in a restaurant as a bus boy. I am going to need that week in the woods to regain my sanity!

Now, on a side note: I am constantly finding funny things that I would love to share with my blogging buddies. Some of them are rather adult in nature so I have refrained from actually posting them here. Especially since I have readers that are younger. So I keep this blog on a family friendly level for the most part. What I have decided to do is create another blog that will have an adult rating and I will post stuff that crosses the line there instead. So check out After Dark

Hope you all have a terrific weekend!!