The Cool Dad Affair

So there we were - Troy - my soldier-returned-home-from-war son, my husband Ruben, myself, my sister Linda and her son Malcolm, my sister Nancy and her sons Jamie & Jackson all in Clarksville, TN getting ready to go out to dinner. Troy is getting dressed in his Perry Ellis suit (I told you - he is READY to be a civilian and he is also quite a clothes-horse.) As he ties his tie, young Malcolm says "you look like my dad getting ready for work." Troy, always the modest one, replies "Well then your dad must be a real cool dude." Malcolm jumps off a proverbial cliff by saying "well, actually, my dad is not cool."

Oh-oh. HUGE MISTAKE.

Troy immediately says "What the heck are you talking about?!" - please note, even though he is JUST returned from Iraq he edits his language around this young (10 year-old) cousin.

He jumps into a veritable litany of exactly how off-base Malcolm is and why - "Not cool?? Your dad is the coolest! Before you were even born he used to take us out on the lake in his boat and he would let us drive the boat (with absolute patience and gentle direction giving might I add) -- he let us shoot his pellet-guns--he took us to ball-games --he runs tri-athalons -- he went to AFRICA - AFRICA to help build clinics (with Engineers Without Borders) -- he climbed Mount Ranier -- he is always doing something cool -- he is the ULTIMATE cool dad. What are you talking about?? Have you lost your mind?"

Mind you, Troy is the model of what is cool for his younger cousins, and has always been cool to them. If HE says someone is cool - well he is an authority on this. And, I must add, that he has gotten out of that stage (long-since) where too many people think 'cool' is - that place of trying so hard to be what one perceives other people think is cool. Troy long ago attained the comfort level of being who he is and confident in his self that is what 'cool' REALLY is.

This conversation continues as we all gather and everyone contributes as Malcolm, for once dumb-struck, listens in a state of awe as we all add some tidbit he had not considered about David (his dad).... We get to the restaurant and are still talking about this and Malcolm finally is so convinced that he ventures to say "well, I only said he might not be cool." Troy is not letting him off the hook so easily and I assure you we all love Malcolm and wouldn't torture him with ridicule so the correction is made "Oh, no little dude, you said "My dad is not cool."

Suffice it to say that after this evening spent together Malcolm probably has a whole new outlook on "cool" and has been adequately brought to a realization that his dad - IS COOL.

Of course, when we get together in Huntsville with Dave, naturally we tell him about the conversation and the results. David is a truly kind person, a modest person, and as well as being cool, he is also a really good dad. He takes it in with a bit of a twinkle in his eye, then directs - well that's enough then. He lets Malcolm "off the hook."

I told you he was a cool dad.