Where are you really from?

Facebook has been really pushy lately about asking me where I’m from and where I grew up. Well that is a very interesting question.

Where am I from? Other than my mothers womb I really don’t know how to answer the question. I’m not sure where I was conceived because I don’t want to ask my parents questions like that. If you hold to a pro-life point of view that’s essentially where I’m from. I was born in a hospital in Charleston WV, so that is where I took my first breath outside of the womb. I guess there would be the next logical place. I was brought home to Rand WV lived there for awhile until we moved to Nitro WV. Then we moved to Newport News VA, Hampton VA, back to Nitro WV then finally to Mobile AL.

Another good question is: Where did you grow up? After I graduated college I moved to Charlotte, NC and met my wife. We soon packed our bags and moved to Memphis TN. If you consider growing up the place where you matured, became a true man of God, learned what it meant to be a husband and father then Memphis was the place I grew up. I learned how to be dependent on God and my wife as my true means of sanity and stability. Both of our children were born there and I understood that I’m not the most important person anymore.

At this point we are trying to grow some roots in the Charleston SC area. Still a lot of growing to do, and hopefully not rotting and withering.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide…

A tip for young married couples or anyone newlywed for that matter. You may have think that your lovely bride has forgotten everything that you did wrong to her over the last few days, months, weeks, years. But when it comes time for a road trip, she has you right where she wants you. There is nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

What is the lesson here? Listen to your wife, encourage her, and empathize with her. You say you do, but until really don’t. You have a choice to pay attention then, or pay attention while in the car together. Choose the first option.

Drinking, Driving, and Voting

Currently, we allow driving at 16, voting at 18 and drinking at 21. I propose to move these ages to 18 for driving, keep drinking at 21 and move the voting age to 25 and here’s why.

No one in their right mind should let a 16 year old drive a car. Cars today are too easy to drive while having too many distractions such as texting or eating bowls of cereal on the way to school. Kids also where driving cars playing Grand Theft Auto and Burnout Paradise, so they’ve probably picked up a few other bad habits. If they must drive, let it be a vehicle with manual transmission, roll down windows, and no air conditioning. I enjoyed driving at 16, but really didn’t know what I was doing. I found myself driving as if there was a cinder block attached to my foot and not looking before I crossed railroad tracks. More on that in a future post.

18 is way too young to vote. Kids barely have the discernment skills and judgement to drive a car, so why let them drive to the polls and elect government officials based on what they’ve learned from The Daily Show, Facebook friends, or liberal college professors? There is no such things as liberal parents, that’s got to be a myth. (see below)

Drinking at 21 should remain the same. People ignore this anyway. There needs to be a 4 year buffer zone between fascination with alcohol and voting rights. How can you trust a person who chooses natural or bud light over a craft beer.  Sadly, some individuals never graduate from this phase. Either that or they progress to whiskey and don’t care about anything but whiskey.

Voting should be moved up to 25 years old. Society seems to mark this milestone age as where you begin making good decisions. Insurance companies recognize this by dropping your rates. Geez, even the government wants parental insurance coverage until 26 because they don’t think you can find a job and support yourself. By this time, most people have bought a house, tied the knot of matrimony and started producing children. At this point most people have achieved personal responsibility. They will want a limited government that doesn’t tell them what to do. They will want a free market to choose the products they desire. They have the liberty to make their own decisions without a government mandate. See, no such thing as a liberal parent! It’s just common sense, that’s all.

Dumb Stranger Comments about Kids

When I’m struggling to maintain sanity out in public with my children, the last thing I want to hear is a dumb comment from a stranger. The one that really makes me want to rip peoples heads off and shove them up their rectum is when they say. “And that’s why I don’t have kids…” they say it with such sarcasm and superiority. It’s a good thing they don’t have kids, because children don’t deserve parents like these. Being a parent is the toughest, but most rewarding job I’ve ever had.