Slipping Into Life Lessons

My son is a teenager now, driving even. I am still trying to wrap my head around that idea. If I can be completely honest, I am terrified at this new milestone. I am doing my best to handle it well, but pray for me, because, as a parent, this is an area of worry that no one can prepare you for.

The story I want to share with you goes back to a time when my son was much younger, and I as a parent was as green as they come when it came to best practices in parenting.

My son, at a young age, was as stubborn as they come. Strong-willed would be what I was told, but to a degree that was beyond my level of understanding. I was not like this as a child; I was calm, polite, and never questioned authority. I did not like to rock the board of life. I did what I was told.

One evening he and I spent some time down by the lake we have here in our community. This lake has the most amazing sunsets at certain points of the year. As a photographer, I am always there waiting to capture the sun on the moments when it can align perfectly with the end of the lake, and it lights up the water like a golden sea, like a scene one would see straight out of middle earth in Lord of the Rings.

During my time on the backs close to the boat ramp, he was safely playing by the water, splashing cans, and trying to catch little fish as they swam by. I started to notice that his curious spirit started to venture down the boat ramp beyond a level that, as a seasoned adult knows, becomes very slippy. and I began to warn him of the dangers of that. It was slippy, and he would fall if he kept going on his path down the ramp.

Some may question my parenting method at this point, but in true father-like fashion, this was a moment that I felt needed to be played out. Moms may have a different opinion, but that is why moms and dads are so different and work perfectly together.

His cute little feet scooted down the ramp as he muttered the words back to me, correcting my parental logic as nonsense:

“No, no Daddy, I will be fine, I will not sli….”

As any true photographer, my instincts of a moment about to unfold kicked in, and I was ready. I was anticipating the shot, seeing the future happen before it unfolded; this natural instinct is one of the reasons I believe I have had a successful career as a photographer.

click of the shutter....

I love this picture so much. It makes me smile; it makes me laugh, and it reminds him that sometimes Dad will be right, and out of failures there will always be a lesson of love from me.

He was so wet, startled, and a bit shocked at that moment. I use it every time as a lesson and a reminder to him to please just listen and pay attention when I have something important to say that may benefit him. I won't always be there to do that for him, and he needs to learn this.

Now that he is driving, it is truer than ever. I have to let him go, live, grow, and make mistakes. He will fall many more times in life, as we all do. I have fallen countless times, I get back up, and thankfully I have ones around me who love me through my failures.

This will always be true for him; as his father, I will be there to support him and dry him off.