Wind and Cricket

This morning I looked out the window and saw something rather surprising. The plants and trees were standing still. What, no wind? My mind raced, my body tingled. Perhaps there was a chance that I may be able to surf today after all.

For those of you not in the know, wind makes or breaks a surf break. For weeks the South Easter has blown here. This is an onshore wind for all of my very close surfing spots. An onshore wind causes the wave to collapse as it blows it over from behind.

Seeing my garden serene got my heart racing. I procrastinated a bit as I know how fickle the wind can be. But seconds later, my slops were on my feet and my car keys in my hand.

Seven minutes later I arrived at the beach. The sea was a horrible off green colour splattered with white sea horses that had been whipped into a frenzy. My car rocked on its suspension as the wind slid its foul tentacles under it trying to whisk me away. Probably a fraction under gale force!

I was home a couple of minutes later. There I reacquainted myself with the beautiful calm day that I had left only minutes before. There I found my sons ready for school, early, which was a miracle in itself! An impromptu cricket match was soon underway. A match filled with great shots from the youngsters and some truly terrible bowling from dad!

Funny how my passion was not to be this morning and yet I had just as much fun back home with my children, and we all got to have fun!

Over the last couple of days, I have watched my oldest son play a whole heap of sport. At the tender age of six, although soon to be seven, he played three rugby matches and one hockey match in the last week. Two of these matches he played with seven stitches in his finger and the rest with the barely healed half chopped thumb in a bandage.

It has been interesting to observe him through the lens of a camera. As a youngster, I never had the benefit of the things that photographs reveal. You can see all sorts of things that will benefit his games. I watched this week as he scored his first hockey goal and then scored his first try. Both momentous occasions and incredible that he has managed to achieve them in the first games that he has played in his two new sports. I have included a couple of pictures so that you can see for yourself.

To me, I find his expressions interesting. This child who often cannot remember to button his school shirt is able to find an incredible determination and play with skill, power and raw courage. Buttons may be boring and not worth much thought, but a game is able to catalyse this child into ferocious activity. He plays with a passion and heart that invokes deep pride within me. Although I have no idea where this come from!

Within the grade ones at his school, there is not just my son but at least another eight or nine even more talented players at all of these new sports. The potential is unbelievable. I have no doubt that watching their games and progress is going to be fun indeed.

As a parent, I have this remarkable responsibility to guide my children into being incredible forces for good in this world. I have to encourage his more obvious talents and help him explore the depths of his being to find those that may well be hidden. My job may well be simpler as some of his talents seem to be so obvious. It has to far harder for other parents when these talents are hidden behind deep insecurities.

With all this talent amongst his mates, I wonder if all of these budding stars will be able to convert this raw talent into skill and wisdom? Will they find true guides in their parents to help them through the adversity that they must all face? Will they become inspirational role models for other children, parents and their peers as they live their lives or will they throw it all away in some wasteful manner?

I am still not sure how to be the best parent possible for my two children. I do know that I have to try and spend as much time as possible with them. I need to support them and love them unconditionally. I also need to teach them great humility at the same time as teaching them how to get the most from the talents that they have been blessed with. In the end I have to impart deep value systems that they embrace and use as their guides for their lives!

I have spent the week in awe of my son. I hope that I can find it within myself to be in awe of him even when he fails! And then help him find his way again.

I am enthralled and exuberated! Neurons in my brain are firing at unprecedented speeds. Thoughts coalescing, growing and then diverging again. Many of them! Synapses are firing with force and energy. There is a new idea in the old grey matter and it is causing mayhem. This idea feels right and worthy and even worth while. Perhaps I am at the start of something wonderful and beautiful. Something that will grow into a reason for my being. Perhaps this idea is worthless and will fizzle and die in time. There is risk but there is possibly huge reward. A reward so big that I am wondering if I am the right person to try and grasp it. I know I should be, must be, but am I?

Last year, a friend and I took our two boys on a boy’s weekend. The idea was to spend good time with our sons on their own. Added to that we wanted them to experience something completely alien to their way of life, to their experience, and to their accumulated base of knowledge. We were going to have fun! We camped in Augrabies Falls, we saw the Sishen Iron Ore Mine, and toured the Kimberley Big Hole. I loved watching my sons face light up and his eyes grow big as he saw and experienced stuff that blew his mind. The time we spent together was precious beyond measure.

This morning saw me on the road doing a short run (Two Oceans is soon). I then dropped the kids off at school and joined a mate for breakfast. Waffles and ice cream, mmmmmm. More exciting than the syrup high, far more fascinating than the news or weather was the idea!

I have long been concerned about the moral fibre of society. My kind of role model seems to be non existent although role models of all varietals are everywhere. I do not want to abandon the upbringing of my children to their school teachers and their friends and their parents. I do want to do all that I can do to assist my sons to grow into decent, loving and good human beings. I want to try and build a relationship with my sons that will help them through their difficult teenage years. I also want to provide them with a network of local role models that they can go to when in need and learn from at any other time. Until today, I had no idea how to get this right. Truly speaking, I still don’t, but there is an idea!

My friend suggested that we create a group of like minded dads and their sons. The mental, spiritual and emotional well being of our children must be one of our highest priorities. We then invest time and energy into creating experiences for our children that revolve around specific issues that they are experiencing or specific values that we would like them to attain. We would include some new rituals / traditions to make this an exclusive and special experience, something that they will look back on and remember with pride and joy. We will hike, we will camp, we will play games and we will solve some cleverly crafted puzzles all directed at building special father / son relationships and instilling deep values into their little spirits.

This is going to take a lot of effort and time, but the outcome is so important, it is worth the investment of my life. My description does not explain exactly what we are going to do, that will all evolve with time. Nonetheless it is all about quality father and son time in a world that is madly busy. It is about sharing the real joy of life with our children.

The idea is just an idea. Either way the investment will mature in a couple of years and the return will be priceless.....