During COVID when only one parent was allowed in a room, this happened.

Normal day. Wanted to take a stroll through the neighborhood on golf cart. NOTE: played golf earlier in the day, but son was driving on my lap with his feet on the floorboard and mine on the brake control…

Anyways, I drive off and realize my speaker fell off. Got out of the driver seat to get speaker and son slipped right on into the driver seat and hits that ol gas pedal (just like he did when we were golfing).

I never catchup to them. They hit a 60+ ft pine tree in the neighbors yard.

Both kids (daughter was in passenger seat) go flying. My daughter ends up with a bruise the size of a tennis ball it seemed. Batteries and battery acid spewing out. Not sure how neither kid got it on them.

Make the call to the wife. Head to ER. I have to explain everything to doctor with wife in waiting room on speaker phone.

Not too many bad looks were received.

We get all tests done. Everything turned out OK. No major injuries.

Wife ain't happy, though.

Anyways, remember to watch kids around equipment - whether it be a mule, a golf cart, atv…take those keys out every time it stops if you have to.

My kids ended up in neighbors yard, but could have easily driven themselves onto the 35+ mph road with maybe even worse consequences even though hitting a stable tree is not ideal.

Happy parenting. Will humble the heck out of you for n an instant.

One of mine is letting my eldest try EVERYTHING. While it's been a hell of a ride with him graduating (salutatorian no less). Here's a list of a few things:

Baseball, his first love this year as a senior he was selected as a captain

Football his second love this year also selected captain and led the team with tackles per game.

President of his FFA chapter. Hell of a welder, and was asked to find a recording of the National anthem. Said "I'll just sing it" an hour before the banquet and absolutely nailed it leaving the crowd stunned.

NHS vice President. Because he needed another officer position in his busy senior year.

And then there is music. He Started playing cello at 6 years old and I'm waiting for him to get ready to take him to State Solo and Ensemble contest in a few minutes. Cello has taken him to the east and west coast almost to Canada and down into South Texas. He has performed the national anthem on the cello in minor league baseball stadiums and beyond.
He started playing guitar at thanksgiving this year. Only a few weeks later he won second place at district talent contest playing guitar and singing Hank Jr.(because his old man taught him what good music is).
Now he plays cello and guitar in church every Sunday.

Bottom line, be careful what you let your kids try, they'll drag you all over the country but it's the most fun you'll ever get to experience.

I drop him off tomorrow in College Station for his summer Job. Not sure what farm life is going to be like without the best farmhand in the Texas Panhandle, but we will see soon enough.


ETA: of course he nailed his solo and got the gold medal he narrowly missed last year! His final high school event/obligation is finished and did it in style. In true form he refused to wear his "performance clothes" and chose a blue paisley pearl snap shirt and blue jeans this morning. His momma did make him take his Coors banquet ball cap off before he went in to play. I love that he is comfortable enough in his own skin to dress how he wants vs how others tell him he should.

What's the best or funniest dad advice you've ever received? You will have a messy house (I'm a neat freak and minimalist), so learn to accept it.

What was your biggest rookie dad mistake with your first kid? Grabbed the diaper bag as I was going solo with her one time but didn't check to make sure there were actual diapers in the bag. So there we were on the changing table in the bathroom and got her all cleaned up and went to grab a new diaper...nothing.

What was the biggest learning curve, or the thing nobody warned you about? Not so much with the kid, but the hormone changes with the wife that come after. If you think she was bad the last trimester, you haven't seen anything yet. I was afraid to fart too loud in the bathroom.

And most importantly… what's your funniest story from those early days of being a dad? Going somewhere with the MIL in the front seat and my pregnant wife (with #2) is in the back seat and we pull into a gas station to get gas and I ask if anybody wants anything from inside. My daughter yells out "I want a f***ing sucker!" My MIL's eyes got big and she turned around and asked "what did you say?" So, she repeats "I said I want a f***ing sucker!" I didn't say a word. I saw the look on my wife's face and just got out and hauled butt inside. No way I was going to stick around for that.