My adopted eight-year-old has the same work ethic. He's already hustling kids at the Boys & Girls Club over pool and basketball.

I like the little "dump" at the end.

Mine are grown and out of the house, but that sure brought back some fond memories (and maybe a couple not so fond). Loved it!

Wrote you a couple years ago - as a BIG fan - and was pleased to get personal response. Thanks again.

I am so happy for you, bro. There is absolutely NOTHING like bringing a child into the world - whatever the hell the world looks like at the time, a child is all about what can be, and what will be. I'm an old liberal, raised by conservatives, who was denied access to a movie theater in San Antonio, circa 1960, because I was with my black room-mate in Air Police School at Lackland AFB. I have been a proud pain-in-the-ass to the establishment ever since. Just thought you'd like to know.

What i really want to say is, at 50, and as a professional musician (drummer/percussionist), I became a Dad again. Because of my own personal growth at the time, I realized that I was given a Soul to guide, not just a child to raise. i began to see the Soul peeking out most of the time, because there is no "ego" for a number of years. That's why we love the little buggers so much, they are Living Love incarnate. God, the BIG One, in the flesh. Living in their past lives and the only moment they know - right now! Echardt Tolle (and countless Zen Masters) would be proud.

Meet him there, raise him from there. Blessing and wisdom upon you, my brother.

By the way, my "little" guy is now 15 and goes to the "worst" high school in the Virginia Beach (predominantly black, lower-middle-class) all morning and The Governors School for the Arts in the afternoon. Gone all hip-hop on me, so i get to listen to Kanye, Snoop, Little Wayne, etc., in the car, and Mozart, Chopin and Mazursky around the house. He's a classical pianist with a leg in Jazz: Miles, Chick, Fats, etc.

They have no limits!

Love to you, and yours,

Michael

I remember those mornings so well. If I made the terrible mistake of nodding off on the couch for even 5 or 10 minutes my little sweetheart would make that the most productive 10 minutes of her day. Please allow me to add a few activities. Gathering up all the keys, cell phones, and remote controls and dumping them in the toilet. It is so frightening to wake up to the sound of flushing. Using my makeup to paint herself and my bathroom. Having a toddler means never taking the trash out without first searching it just in case.

Having a toddler means never taking the trash out without first searching it just in case.

I haven't been able to find my college ring since my kid was about 2 years old. Coincidence? I doubt it.

Try two, brother and sister.