Monday Music On Friday Night

So boys and girl...you are a few days away from returning to school.  Here we go again...so today's Friday Night Music is for you three, especially since you all seem to like this song when it plays and Dodge wants it for Intro music.

This week we will go with Wake Me Up by Avicii.  It isn't necessarily my tune, but it isn't bad either and somehow I suspect you guys will be all kinds of fun to wake up come Monday.  Maybe not.

In any case, I do like this song's story about trying to find your way through the darkness.  Two of you have new teachers and the eldest gets to start middle school - a whole new fun experience of trying to find yourself.  I know a lot of people said it was the best time of their life, but I am not sure I agree.  Too many changes, so if I may...if you don't trust me, buy into what the song is saying about having zero idea of where the journey will end.  I didn't think I would be in Texas, much less with five amazing kids, but I am exactly where I am supposed to be...so trust things will work the way they are supposed to.

For the one of you that tries to carry the weight of the world...buy into the lyrics there too.  You can't.  Don't put too much pressure on yourself.  Play your game, concentrate on little things and doing them correctly, and things do work out.

People will say you all are all young and finding yourself, but like this song says, you aren't lost...just enjoying the journey hopefully.  In the meantime, you can always ask mom or me anything anytime or come to us for help.

Any Hope For Sequels?

Once again, thanks to Boys and Girls Clubs of Dallas and Warner Brothers, I was able to see another movie pre-release.  Except in this case, it was basically a month pre-release so how cool is that?

So the movie this time is Dolphin Tale 2 and returns pretty much the entire cast that made the first movie great.  While the release date has moved from September 19 to September 12 it continues the real life story of the dolphin Winter and her new companion Hope at the Clearwater (FL) Marine Aquarium.

In this edition we get to see Sawyer (Nathan Gamble) and Hazel (Cozi Zuehlsdorff) growing up as they start to take on projects within the Aquarium and also find a little more about themselves.  Sawyer for instance needs to find if he can break away from Winter to take on a semester at sea that studies wildlife on the sea.  Hazel meanwhile needs to determine if she and her father can have a relationship built on mutual professional respect.

All in all the film was good and this is a real life story that is a continuation of the first real life film.  Unlike the first film which had the popsicle scene, it seemed that this picture was more dramatic and less fun, but it did let viewers of the first film grow up with Sawyer and Hazel.

I'm giving this four stars on the five scale as I have hope for very few sequels that do not have the words Star Wars in them, but this was much better than expected and is a film you can take your family to without wondering what messages are your kids going to be exposed to?

The Clearwater Marine Aquarium seems to present a balanced approach to conservation, life, and relationships with parents so for all those reasons I liked it as a dad.  There were hints however during the pre-talk with the artists that there is a potential third installment so...stay tuned.  There may be more fun from Winter and Hope in the next few years.  If they continue this formula, I am sure I will be buying four or more tickets.

Mothers

"God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." - Rudyard Kipling

So Mother's Day comes again.  Or so the calendar says.  Mothers come in all shapes and sizes, good dispositions and bad, but I suspect I agree most with Rudyard Kipling about mothers.

From a religious perspective, I believe in the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).  Beyond that is Saint Mary, an easy one for Catholics, but one step further has to be mothers.  They bring us to life.  No not alone, but without mothers would men carry children?  I doubt it.  Pregnancy would be too cumbersome and get in the way of all the things we like to do so that leaves the fairer gender.

In my case, I am lucky to be married to the best mother children could have in Dianne.  The thing that amazes people the most about her I think is how she balances work as a full time risk manager for a Big Four tax firm with the care and instruction of four children ranging in age from ten to almost born, for what will be our fifth addition.

Some days I am not sure how she can manage a conference call on a contract with a subsidiary of a Fortune 500 in Brazil with a school parent-teacher conference and then get Dodge to baseball practice.  Not sure how, but never unsure about her ability to find a way.

At the same time she teaches the girls how to be a lady and encourages a little brother to find his footing in a household dominated by a dominant older brother who seems to excel at things with ease.  Somehow she also seems to keep him in check as well without being overbearing.

She does it all with what seems ease...in a million places in a million moments with few tasks that she can not perform.  Perhaps Kipling was right and mothers are God's other representatives to show us how things can be done with grace, determination, and care.  I think so.