June 10: New Hero, Embarrassing Your Kids, Waving

Last night, I was waiting for my daughter to complete her rehearsal for her dance recital.  In the car with me was one of my daughter's friends, an 11-year-old girl who has reached that point in her life when being seen wearing the wrong pair of socks is akin to losing a beloved pet.  Of course, being who I am, I took advantage of the situation.  I rolled down the windows, put the soundtrack to The Music Man in the CD player, and started singing as loudly as I could.  By the time my daughter showed up, her friend was crouching on the floor of the car.

"Do you know what your dad did?" her friend hissed from the floor.

"I love this song," my daughter said as she climbed into the back seat with her friend.  Without missing a beat, she started belting out "Seventy-Six Trombones" like a young Ethel Merman.  It was absolutely joyful.  My daughter has obviously gotten very used to my embarrassing character traits and has adapted to them well.  She also has realized that letting me know I'm embarrassing her is a big mistake.  I will sing louder, dance faster, and hug longer.  She just goes with the flow.  In most cases, she will join me in my insanity.

When we pulled up in front of her friend's house, I cranked up the CD again, and my daughter and I got out of the car and started dancing on her lawn to the song "Shipoopi."  Her friend ran to her front door without looking back at us.  My daughter and I danced to the whole song.

Embarrassment is my way to show my daughter I love her.  A week or so ago, I heard a story on the radio about Dale Price, from Utah, who spent an entire school year waving to his teenage son's school bus.  That doesn't sound too bad.  But this man was wearing costumes every day.  He waved as a bride, as Ariel from The Little Mermaid, as a pirate.  You name it.  Dale became an instant hero to me.  So imagine my elation when I found his blog yesterday.  The people at Blogger chose Wave At the Bus as a Blog of Note.  I lost about an hour of my life yesterday just flipping through the pictures of his costumes.

I don't think enough parents in this world embarrass their children.  I know my daughter may forget a lot of things about her childhood.  She won't remember what we bought her for her seventh or eighth or ninth birthdays.  But my daughter will remember dancing with me on her friend's lawn.  And Dale's son will remember the 170 mornings his father donned dresses and bodysuits and stood waving at his school bus.  That's what parental love is all about.  Not being embarrassed to embarrass yourself.

I will always roll down the windows and sing as loudly as I can with my daughter.  I will take every opportunity to dance with her in public.  I may even pull out my gorilla costume and wave at her bus some morning.

Go to Dale Price's blog, "Wave At the Bus".  See a father who really loves his kids.  I'm taking a few notes of my own.

Dance with Saint Marty tonight.  He'll be out on the lawn with his daughter.

Dale Price rocks!