I had the pleasure today of playing golf with Justin Hales at TPC Summerlin. We planned our golf excursion a week or so ago, and I'm glad nothing came up to spoil it....and the wind subsided as well.
The round was highlighted by Justin's confrontation with the UFC Fighter-looking-dude on #17. Way to go J-Dog! Afterward, Janae joined us in the dining room and we feasted on Chef Phil's prime rib buffet. TO DIE FOR.
I mention this day, this outing, for a few reasons.....Justin and our youngest son Jake grew up together. The kids they all ran with were and are good young men and young women. Most of the boys are serving missions for our church right now all over the world. The friendships that they made as toddlers grew as they got older, and they became forever bonded through silly and stupid acts that only teenagers can do.
Every now and then a "story" is told that I was previously unaware of....like how they would sneak out from our basement in the middle of the night on sleepovers and go over to Derfelt Elementary to goof around. All the while the King of the House (me) was sound asleep. Who knew?
There are too many boys and girls to name individually and I would not want to leave even one name off the list, but suffice to say that my boys are who they are not solely because of my wife, or their teachers....they are good young men BECAUSE they chose their friends wisely. They helped each other along the slippery slope that is adolescence one step at at time. We included them in our family trips to the beach, ski/snowboard excursions, dinners, barbeque's, and all sorts of adventures. To us, they were part of our family. We will be forever grateful for their friendship and their example.
To you young parents out there who read this - I truly hope that your house becomes the house the kids like to be at like ours became. We knew where our kids were at night - they were home....with their incredible friends. Sure they ate and drank us out of house and home some weekends but I wouldn't have it any other way. I did try and get their social security numbers that one year to claim them as dependents but Janae talked me out of it.
Growing up is hard. Peer pressure can be tough. Here's a tip of the hat to Justin and to all the boys and girls who helped Jake become the man he is.
Hooya
2 comments:
I'm still jealous that J-dawg is goin to Peru...ugh...but I agree with what you said. Jake and I were blessed to have great parents and great friends. We're very lucky boys!
I concure
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