Ice Cream Therapy

Is it me, or is being left at school past closing time sort of a right of passage?

Allow me to explain.

When I was 10-years-old, I rode the bus home from school. Unless my dad was picking me up to spend the weekend at his house. On those Friday afternoons, I would get out of school and wait for him on the steps of our elementary school. Not having an iPod, Kindle, cell phone or electronic device of any kind, I simply waited.

One particular afternoon, I waited, and waited, and waited. Now there is such a thing my sisters and I refer to as "John McNamara time" so my dad being late wasn't completely out of the ordinary, but being an hour or two late was new.

Meanwhile, my dad was waiting for me to get off the bus at my mom's house. And waiting. And waiting. So there was a miscommunication at some point, but neither of us knew it then.

My 10-year-old brain had no idea what time it was when the janitor/last employee to leave the building emerged from the school and said he was headed home. This kind man also happened to be a neighbor of my mom's and said he would give me a ride home.

(Pause to reflect how different times are now then they were then. This story wouldn't exist if for a couple of cell phones. And the fact that I was able to pass the time without any electronics -- go 10-year-old me!)

I knew my mom and stepdad wouldn't be home when the janitor, whose name was Mr. Pike, and I arrived, but I thought maybe my brother would be. No such luck. Taking pity on me and not wanting to leave a 5th grader home alone, Mr. Pike invited me to his house for dinner. I left a note on the door letting whoever got home first to come get me at the Pikes' house and away we went.

Here's where I need to explain that I was a picky eater as a kid. Super picky. Plain cheese pizza kinda picky. And if there were two things in this world that I didn't like, they were meatloaf and creamed corn. (Just so you know, meatloaf is on my love list now, but creamed corn -- still a no go.) All that to say, guess what was for dinner at Mr. Pike's house that night? You guessed it, Nicole's least favorite foods.

My parents must have instilled enough manners in me that I choked that meal down with all my might. I then proceeded to introduce the Pikes, whose children were long grown and gone, to TGIF! We were having a great time when my brother finally showed up to pick me up.

When I got home, I listened to our answering machine and my dad's voicemails about what had happened. My mom and stepdad arrived soon after and I relayed the story to them. My mom was so impressed I ate creamed corn that she didn't even realize that someday I might need therapy for feeling abandoned.

Fast forward 22 years to Friday, Feb. 20. Rob and I planned to meet up at a local fish fry for dinner with the kids. Just as I hopped in my car to leave for work, my friend (who will remain nameless) called to catch up. Lost in our conversation, I missed my turn for the fish fry twice before I finally parked and we ended our conversation. I strolled into the fish fry and spotted Rob holding Gabby. Ah, time for some overpriced fish and a cold glass of brew, I thought.

"Wait, where's Faith?" I asked him.
He was looking behind me.
"Where's Faith?" he asked.

OH SHIT, WE BOTH THOUGHT!

It was my fault. I was supposed to get her. The phone call. My poor driving skills. My overloaded brain from my first week at a new job. I completely forgot to pick her up.

We looked at the time. It was exactly 5:30 p.m., which is exactly what time preschool closes. Rob made a frantic call and said we were on our way. I told him not to throw me under the bus and use the word "miscommunication" several time once he got there. I took Gabby and we went to get food from Culver's fish fry.

I called my nameless friend on the way and told her she was obligated to pay for my daughter's therapy later in life. We laughed and hung up, and I immediately felt the mom guilt that comes with forgetting your kid. I was hoping Faith wouldn't remember this for year's to come when Rob sent me this (after he sent me a much-needed reminder to pick up my Redbox movie).

Rob said she had a short pity party about being the "last kid" but was smiling soon after!

Let's see here. A lifetime of therapy or a $3 concrete from Culver's? Done and done.

Gabby and I may have had a few bites on the way home. Why do you think they make those spoons so long…to reach the backseat! Truth be told, I've missed the turn for Gabby's school a few times and headed home on accident, only to turn around and make it to her daycare in plenty of time to pick her up. In essence, lil sis earned it too.

It was definitely a Friday to remember…or hopefully in Faith's case, forget.

One Lucky Guy

It was either this, or the football player.

I have considered myself a very lucky guy for a long time. Whether it was good or bad, it always seemed to work out.  I do think I’ve worked hard for my luck, but either way, I am pretty lucky.

I distinctly remember the first time I felt like I was lucky (get your mind out of the gutter). I was sitting in Mr. Bowman’s science class in 7th grade. I have always considered myself a smart kid, even when I lie about my past. I sat towards the back of the room, and we were going over the periodic table of elements. The textbook we were using (remember those?) had the table spread over two pages right in the middle pages of the book; so the  binding was visible, and a slight space appeared vertically down the center of the elements. 

Now, for all of you that haven’t looked at, or thought about, the periodic elements since that day in Jr. High, there are also a group of elements that were separated and moved below the table as man-made elements (I’m not looking this up by the way, my wife can vouch. Pure memory, and probably wrong). 

Added photo after text was written. I think I was right...

So Mr. Bowman was talking the Charlie Brown teacher talk (c’mon: wah wah wah, wah-wah wah wah); and I was probably just starting to pay attention when he asked the class if there was something odd about the periodic table. There was some silence. I looked, raised my hand and said, “This is easy. The table is split down the middle.” Of course, Mr. Bowman said I was right. I think you can see where this is going. I thought it was split oddly because I had never seen it split vertically before. He thought (or at least played it off as) that I knew the bottom elements were the man-made ones. I got lucky.

But my luck didn’t stop. Oh no, it kept getting better. I was lucky enough in high school to have people that wanted me to succeed. I was the sportscaster on a TV News team that won the All-State competition. I wasn’t considered rich growing up, but I got by with what we had. For the news broadcast, I didn’t have a sports coat, or even a white button down shirt. I did have a black shirt and tie though (used sparingly throughout high school). The judges at the competition said our newscast stood out because of our commercial, and it was hilarious. But he also made a point to say that the sportscaster took a chance and stood out by wearing a black shirt and no coat. Sometimes you remember the little stuff.

Just getting into college was luck for me. But I got there, and after semester one I needed to get my act into gear if I wanted to stay. Sometimes it’s not what you know, but who you know. And I had a good crew in college that were more focused on academics than not. And that support was beneficial. I ended up in a great place because of it.

I also remember in college when my luck wasn’t so much good. Long story short: I lost a “bar fight” with the glass from a fire extinguisher case. I had the pleasure of spending the night in the tank. But, it led to some good. When I went to my broadcasting class later that week (and the beginning of Triple Threat TV at ISU) a cute girl was eyeing me. I found out later that she was trying to figure out if I really was the kid from the paper she read about in the blotter. Good news for me, she liked me anyway, and now we are about to celebrate our 5th year of marriage together (June 2nd). And you know how we’re celebrating? We’re going to run a 20K in Des Moines. I have a feeling I’ll be lucky to finish.

Addiction.

Now with Faith almost 2-years-old, I decided it was time to get rid of the pacifier. We had talked about it anyway when I was out of school. But it was just as big of a crutch for Nicole and I as it was for Faith. So, last night, when we were on our way home I got stubborn, and pretty much told Nicole we were going to go sans-binky right then. Cold Turkey.

She said that I would be the one in charge for the night. And I got lucky. It initially took about 10 minutes to get her to calm down. We have a giraffe that makes music, and so I decided that would be her replacement. So when she was upset, I wound it up and made sure to give it to her, then rub her back. Then she was out. She woke up once at 5am, for just a moment. I repositioned the giraffe and she was out again. And that was it. She woke up at 6:30 (about normal) and was ready to rock and roll. Nicole gave her presents for making it as a “big-girl” and our day has commenced.

Duck, Duck, ALLIGATOR!

You know the expression, “Don’t count your chickens before they hatch,” right? This was night one. We still have two long car rides today - and probably nap time too. But, I’m lucky. We’ll see I guess.

By the way, I didn’t mention being on (and winning) Wheel of Fortune, falling into a wonderful career (I literally replied to a newspaper ad that said, “Tired of your current job? Did you always want to become a teacher?”), getting to jump out of a plane and tell about it, visiting Ireland, and a myriad of other moments in my life. 

The family with ISU women's basketball coach Bill Fennelly and his 2028 recruit. Oh, and yellow skinny jeans.

As I often say (to anyone who will listen), I am the luckiest guy I know.~Rob

Three More Words

SHE. MADE. IT.

By now you may have heard through the Facebookvine that Misses Faithy Lindquist appeared on a little show called "Good Morning America" Saturday morning.

I submitted the video the last week of July and thought it might appear that very Saturday. Of course I was wide awake that morning, but had a mommy moment and thought it started at 7, not 6 a.m. Faith and I played while the TV sat off. Once I turned it on and realized I just missed "Your Three Words" I tried to kick myself. Luckily, I'm not that flexible. We weren't DVRing it at that time either. I knew I could check the link online later, but I never got around to it.

When she didn't appear the next two weeks, my mom tried to kindly inform me that they probably didn't chose our video. Me being that mom who thinks her kid's the only kid ever to walk across a room so adorably, I refused to believe it.

This past Saturday, we were up at 6, but I thought we'd just play rather than turn on the TV. At 7 o'clock, I decided to fast-forward through GMA just to see the "Your Three Words" segment, which usually airs with about 10-15 minutes left. Imagine my shock when I saw this flash across my screen while fast-forwarding at minute 30.

I quickly hit play to hear my new man Dan Harris say, "Plus, first steps and other big milestones from your world in your three words -one of the segments we love and we do it every Saturday morning." They used part of Faith's video to tease the segment later in the show! I remember thinking how lucky the person whose video they chose to tease last week's "your three words" segment must have felt at the time and now it was ours.

Needless to say if you know me at all, I proceeded to freak out and shout to a sleeping husband from the bottom of the steps that Faith was on GMA! I ran back into the living room, turned to Faith and screamed, "YOU WERE ON TV." In hindsight this was not a wise move. She froze, looked at me and instantly started bawling. It was like I just told her that the Little Einsteins aren't real people. Sad stuff.

A few hugs and apologies later, we all huddled around the TV to watch this video!

She was the first clip in the series, and because I was happy, because Faith didn't shed enough tears, and just because I'm me, I cried. Rob looked at me like this was abnormal for me for some reason as I tearily told my mama over the phone that Faith just had her fifteen seconds of fame. Thank you GMA for reaffirming my belief that when my daughter walks into across a room, people notice.