What’s A Dad To Do?
The time: 11:45 p.m.
The place: My warm bed.
My wife and I had been in bed for a few minutes and I was at the crossroads of reality and dreamland, when my phone went off! “Damn it”! I knew it had to be Jonathan, my oldest son. He had been on campus all evening doing some studying (right!) I answer the phone; “What?” Dad, my bike won’t run! Jonathan says, I asked him what it was doing, then diagnosed the problem as NO FUEL! The kid ran it dry. It is midnight, he’s in a bad part of town, I was in bed, and now I have to take him fuel. I pull on my pants, grab a flashlight, and head to the shed for the gas can, mumbling loudly the entire time. I jump in my wife’s car, because I don’t want mine smelling of gas, and I am off to meet him. I arrived at his location in a matter of minutes, I added the juice, and the bike fired immediately, and we are headed back to the house. As I followed my twenty year son back home, my mind raced with what lecture I should give him, as several would be fitting for this occasion. But once inside our warm and safe abode, I decided not to say much, I was glad he was home, and after all isn’t that what a dads for?
As a father of three boys I would agree with your take. My hesitation is never about whether or not to help. That’s sort of a given for me. The question is where my help crosses the line into “enabling” a lack on their part. So far, thank goodness, the lads seem to have their heads on straight. The youngest is 19 and the oldest is 25 so mine are in the same range as yours, it seems. They all seem to like those late nights, don’t they?
I didn’t mind helping, but we had discussed this gas situation many times before. So I was frustrated at his laziness. They do indeed love the late night!
I have a 19yr old son and 13 yr old son. Your incident remiding me of a few years ago when the eldest drove to a Christian concert. After the concert they came out only to discover he had left the car running the entire time ?!?!?! Here’s the kicker, he calls home 10pm because he had locked the keys in the car. He’s lucky that fool car was still there. My hubby bailed him out of that one, lol. My husband rode his motorcycle, so he was happy to help, but I know there was lots of muttering going on.
Yea, we bail our kids out of whatever. We were once kids that needed bailing out on occasion, lol. My eldest really loves to stay up late. 2am and he’s playing those electronic games.
Thanks for the story, the only thing I can say is… “Kids you gotta love em!”