Great day followup

It was a great night at Dodger Stadium with perfect weather, a perfect view, and a perfect game. Parker and I had a blast.

I think the greatest part of the night occurred shortly after we sat in our seats. I splurged on tickets for this game. Our seats were just 11 rows behind the Dodger dugout. The gate ticket price for our seats was astronomical but thanks to StubHub and a season ticket holder who couldn't go, we saved 40%. We arrived before the gates opened and were one of the first fans through the gates. We had to show our tickets to a series of ushers since our seats were so close to the field. We felt like movie stars since we were getting such first-class treatment. We found our row and started walking down towards the field. We kept going further and further down and soon realized that we had absolutely scored.

After we sat down and started to experience the beauty of being so close, Parker looked over at me and said, "Thanks, Dad." You have to know my son. He's not the most appreciative kid in the world - much like I was in 4th grade. In fact, I remember my parents reminding me how blessed I was but that I never seemed to appreciate the life I had. We had lots of "things", a great house, and I always had spending money. I was blessed but, apparently, didn't say "thanks" enough. Parker is a lot like me. He goes to private school, has a room full of stuff, and his mom and dad spend a lot of money on things like baseball tournaments, nice clothes, and weekends away. But he rarely recognizes what he has and, more importantly, what others don't have.

He didn't specify why he was thanking me but he didn't have to. He was so genuine and it generated a couple of emotions. I was happy that he was really appreciative. And I was proud that our constant instruction about saying "thanks" was finally breaking through. It was the highlight of my night.