Tag Archives: Scotty

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Of the Twilight Zone and other family twists and turns….

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Scotty asked me this morning if I had blogged about the minor traffic accident that occurred at Church in Nashville yesterday, and I remembered that I had not.

You see yesterday as we were leaving Nashville, (you may remember I drove down and picked up Scotty at Edinburgh where Amanda had taken all the kids to shop while i did a wedding) I had to get out of the car (I was in the passenger seat…Scotty was driving) and get our Church sign and take it back into the Church. Everyone of course thought I had left, but when the sign got hit, I figured it was my responsibility to pick it up and take it in, and of course confess.

And so I did. The sign was fine, bit it was amazing to me at how everyone started to laugh. After all, Scotty had been driving just three weeks, and now “WHACK,” a sign was hit!

But I just smiled and handed Deacon Conley the sign, and said, “No my friend, Scotty didn’t back into the sign…..Amanda did!” And of course that got the biggest laugh of all!

That’s why Scotty wanted me to post, because in truth, he is still laughing! She is all over him about driving safely, and he does, but he is one down on her in terms of hitting signs! And he wanted her, and you to know!

Of course by the time I got outside, She, Steph, and Ben were gone! SO I just got in the passenger seat with Scott and hit the road. He’s a great driver, and is doing quite well. He has not yet driven the car with his brother in it……..Amanda is not yet comfortable with his level of experience.

Scott and I believe she must be waiting for some sign!

Nite and God bless.

Tom+

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Of C.S. Lewis, Scotty, and Narnia…….

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My son Scotty and I are reading “The Chronicles of Narnia” together this summer, and today was the day we discussed the first book, “The Magician’s Nephew.” We had a great time sitting together talking about it, with both of us bringing our particular insights.

It reminded me of how broad our experiences of life can be if we only look a bit deeper. I would have never imagined Scotty and I doing something like this together. We have done all the other usual dad/son things like playing ball, skating, mowing, riding bikes, and watching our beloved Cubs. But reading books together and talking about them was a real stretch for us both.

In truth, I never read when I was Scott’s age. As a matter of fact, it was in grad school when I first confessed to a professor of mine that I had not read one book for leisure in my life. It wasn’t that I couldn’t read, because I read a lot for class. I just considered reading for fun a waste of my time……a mistake I regretted deeply later in life.

My professor, Locke Bowman, knew better and he made me read “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Huckleberry Finn” for class (it was an independent study) and we used both books then for discussions about educational theory. He knew he could draw me into reading, and he did! It was a brilliant move, and the mark of a true teacher with a passion for learning. Thanks Locke, I haven’t stopped reading since.

I certainly don’t want Scott to deprive himself of something so meaningful like I did, and after our discussion today I believe that will not be a problem. We move this week to “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” and we are both looking forward to discussing it next Friday!

What a great way to begin that 47th year! I am blessed that he will read with me…..now if I can just get him to clean his room!

God bless!

Tom+

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Gentleman, start your engine……….

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Well it finally arrived……Scotty is 15 and we had a small gathering for his birthday tonight. (Yes, with cake #3). We sat around laughing and talking and listening to Scott and Steph play guitar and sing. Ben got into the act by banging on Steph’s electric guitar, but it didn’t sound nearly as good as Steph. Ben left Scotty’s electric guitar alone. Clearly only two of the three kids are great musicians at this point, but all three try. I went and got Ben my guitar which does not plug into any amp. He banged on that while the other two played……and, he really feel part of the band.

The big thing though was Scott’s birthday. I am so proud of him! He is such a fine young man, and tomorrow will be an even BIGGER DAY for him. Tomorrow we will get his driver’s permit and he will begin to drive! He is SOOOO excited about that and so are we. Scott has tried to drive his entire life, even before he could even talk, and he has talked about it since he learned the words. I know it is going to be a great time. We have worked to get to this day his entire life!

So anyway, Happy Birthday Scotty! You made it and we are proud of you! By 11:00 am tomorrow you will be on the road learning to drive. It’s been a long time coming, and you are ready. I am looking forward to getting into the passenger seat and seeing that smile that will be there all day!

Praise God, my boy has finally done it!

Fr. Tom+

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I remember……

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My son Scotty is really a remarkable young man. He is smart, he has a great heart, and above all he is funny. Over the course of his life I have had very few complaints, but one of them that has nagged at me for quite some time is the way he has kept his hair. His hair has been so big that part of it lived in another time zone. And try and try as I have, nothing seemed to ever convince him that a decent haircut might be in order.

Our relationship has always been a good one, and as a priest who started out in youth ministry, I know a kid’s hair is a pretty small concern. It was just so big, and it was always in his way, and quite frankly I think there were quite possibly birds and other small animals living in that tangled mess!

But something happened last week. Scotty said he would entertain going back with me to the barber. We had run into one of our barbers at the Walmart one night and I guess that got the discussion going. What it led to was not just a miracle, but a big transformation…..or better yet a return. Even though I gave him the freedom to grow it out, even though for a couple of years he looked quite different, I still knew it was him and I remembered what he looked like…he just didn’t.

It’s funny now. He looks in the mirror at every chance he gets. He is amazed that he looks so different. All the people he sees say WOW! And he’s got to be TONS COOLER in the 90 degree heat. It’s a neat thing, and for it and for him I am very proud!

I hope you like how he looks now….he says he is pretty resolved never to go back that way again!

Praise God!

Tom+