Take yesterday, Father's Day, as an example. Like most fathers of young children, I got to spend the day with my kids. Here's a picture of us on the beach.
Good looking kids, right? And we had a great day yesterday. Early morning hugs and breakfast. A trip to an estate sale, haircuts, and then off to beach where I was presented with my 'big' gift - a surf kayak. (Kids got a big laugh because, as a complete novice 'surf kayaker' dad made a fool of himself in the water.) After the beach we headed to my in-laws house to give grandpa some father's day love then we went back to the house for a 'Father's Day Fiesta' dinner of tacos and other Tex-Mex fair.
Here's where the day turns ... I opened the garage door to put the boogie boards and my new kayak away and somehow the door flexes and the entire thing comes off the track and winds up precariously suspended only a few feet above my head. Basically the entire door came crashing down around me. Can you guess who's going to miss the Fiesta?
Now I'm stuck inside an already over crowded garage trying to take this door apart so I can rebuild it. Long-story-short, I successfully get it down and in two hours rebuild the thing so it operates correctly. I go back inside to call my dad and mid-call my wife shouts for me, "Scott you need to come look at this ... the carpet is soaked." Sorry dad, another crisis I'll have to call you back," I say into the phone as I run downstairs.
The air conditioner drain has broken and instead of expelling water out of the house it is letting it flow in between the exterior and interior walls. And it looks like its been at it for a while. I do a quick assessment but tell my wife there's no way to fix it tonight and it's have to wait until after work tomorrow.
A good day gone bad?
Not really. Sure I would have rather not had the garage door crash around me - and my back has been reminding me of that all day. I sure as hell would rather not have to fix a drain pipe - I hate anything plumbing related - but the day was still fantastic.
Then I got to thinking about work. A lot of days are like that for administrators. When I was school based, I remember greeting students in the morning - a great start to the day - then having to deal with 20 referrals throughout the rest of the day. Now, as an HR pro, I hear great news about a teacher in the morning only to hear that another has made a career ending mistake in the afternoon. Good days gone bad?
Not really, everyday that we're here we touch and influence the future. As educators our work is always optimistic, always full of promise. Press through the problems, there'll be plenty more tomorrow and remember to always keep your glass half full.
That's the lesson I (re)learned on Father's Day.
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