Oddly enough, for me, it's the rare, heartfelt, warm ticklish feeling that is in part, due to a wonderful lazy Sunday I got to spend with Angi and the kiddo's and Suzanne, that makes the inexplicable tears of happiness swell up. That and the fact that this morning I was privileged to have a talk I have been waiting YEARS to have with Kaleb!
Anyone reading this blog for any length of time will attest to the fact Angi and I have been put through the ringer with this kid! All the while though, we knew deep down, he was a good kid. Just impetuous. Well, over the last year we have seen him grow, achieve a certain level of maturity and really come out of his self imposed exile. To even make the moment more memorable was the fact he actually opened up to me about some of the things going on in his life up to this point. That was stellar! To me, it meant he has begun to trust me and seek out my opinion. Of course, the issues revolve around girls and relationships.
In our life together Angi and I both have been on the receiving end of both praise and condemnation for how we raise our kids. Seems there is a sadly growing consensus, that children should be in charge, where the parents and schools have been reduced to "custodians" with no real power or choice other then to let the kids "rule the roost". Then there are some of the "old World" holdouts that think it is a parents duty to teach children REALITY! We stand firmly in the OLD WORLD!
And the following day.
Sorry about the gap, but this blog entry was started yesterday morning around 9.00 am and it took me until 3.30 to write what little I had! We were SO blessedly busy!!!! I just gave up for the day as I and the whole crew were banging out goodies past close!
All right...let me see where I was at....
Ah yes...
No, by "Old World" I don't mean heavy handed, corporeal punishment. Rather, real involvement, boundaries, limitation and knowing the word "NO". I have one basic principal I try and teach them (without actually having to spell it out for them) and that is we ALL do or have done things in our lives that have either harmed others or ourselves. When you are child, doing such things can be forgiven as the impetuousness of youth, but when you do them as adults, it leads to a great deal of soul wrenching guilt and regret (well, that is IF you HAVE a soul!). I want them to make their mistakes and learn from them NOW! My hope being, get the worst out of the way before the severity of adulthood comes around and it becomes less likely they will be forgiven or forgive themselves!
That's about where Kaleb is right now. Without having to say it, his actions speak VOLUMES! Even though their is still the mischievous gleam of impetuous in his eye's (which is NOT a bad thing) he tempers it with forethought, relegating his more impulsive acts to that of BMX stunts, not to mention harnessing his energy and vitality into more productive pursuits like work and his new found interest into mixed martial arts.
It feels REALLY good to know there is hope!
ANYWHO!
As I mentioned we were WHIZ BANG SLAMMED yesterday! And MAN did it feel GOOD!!! Right from the moment we opened until past close it was almost non-stop! A total of thirteen repairs came in and were done! Picked up ELEVEN new rides and a few are WAY, WAY NICE!!! Had two special order rebuilds and sent FIVE rides to new homes!
Oh YES! Give us more of that!
CUTE SUZANNE MOMENT!!!
With the advice of Angela (as I am prone to spoil pets) I have to set certain rules for Suzanne. When I take her for her nightly walk, we both follow certain rules. When we leave the house we use the same door each time, and she is to wait for me to exit first. When we walk, she is to always walk on my right (I'm right handed and that way she is out of the way of any oncoming traffic) and we walk the same route each time (for her to get use to the neighborhood scents as the constant harsh stops to sniff are making my leash arm sore!) Well the other night, on her final walk before bed, I wasn't paying attention. Absent minded, I hooked up her leash, opened the door, and stepped out....with her to my left. I took a couple of steps and the leash went taut. I faltered for a moment, turned around wondering why she wasn't coming and she was standing steadfast, with her head down looking up at me with a look of confusion as if to say "what the hell are you doing?" Realizing my error, I switched hands, moved to the left giving her right hand position to which she raised her head, smiled, wagged her tail and came out!
So....who's training who?
Last night, when I got home Angela had made plans to go for a ride with Elijah to the mall to get her phone service switched to T-Mobile. Metro has just gotten so lousy lately, she was fed up. It's been a while since she really got out and RODE and by the time she got back she was flushed with energy, remembering just how much she missed it. Of course, no bike ride is without incident, as on their way home, it being after dark, Elijah did not have his lights on his bike and was quickly pulled over by the local constabulary. As they stood there, his info being looked up to ensure he was not some nefarious nare-do-well, as all cyclist are apparently prone to be, in the eye's of the law, Angi (being rather annoyed at having not only to stop her rhythm but also suppress her natural Irish inclinations to tell the officer what she REALLY felt) having been rudely lectured to by the officer about the necessity of functioning light on a bicycle, noticed a car pass by, in clear view of the other officer who was there that did NOT have functioning taillights! Well, at this moment the Irish broke and she blurted out "Guess its NOT important for CARS to have functioning lights, hunh?!"
Oh...I SO love my wife!!
ANYWHO!
Today, we will be back up to speed, and be pumping out more rides. Feel free to check out the two new one's below! Now, I need to get to WORK!
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| 58CM MERCIER AERO 2 ROAD BIKE! ONLY $310.00!! |
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| 2006 GARY FISHER "WAHOO" ONLY $240.00!!! |
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