Off the Cuff – Listening to 70’s on the radio…

I digress sometimes. I haven’t written about this song in a long, long time. Over 25 years ago in fact.

I heard Harry Chapin’s ’74 song, “Cat’s In The Cradle” driving to work recently. If you don’t know it, Google it, YouTube it or Spotify it. You’ll remember if you forgot.

In an old Daily Hound, I wrote about this song while traveling at (another) trade show to visit with customers and peddle the tools that we make for crime scent techs. In my Off The Cuff, I asked if we were making enough time for our kids. Specifically Griffin, my first one. Jobs were a hassle and people tend to get hung up on their jobs, and the world was getting busier and busier. 25 years later, I can say it only has increased and gotten even more complicated. Building a manufacturing/marketing company comes with some challenges and some real trade-offs in life. I vowed not to become too busy for my kids.

4 kids and hundreds of mistakes later, I got the chance to take my 4 grown children to Florida in January, taking all the usual COVID precautions. With all the craziness of each individual life, combined with the pandemic, it would prove to be a real test. My benchmark was “did I live my life as the famous song went…or did I do at least a pretty good job as a Dad?”

Sure, we are in most cases our own critic. But what did they think?

To my surprise, maybe it was the adult beverages, but the conversation flowed smoothly without a hitch. We talked for countless hours about nothing and everything, individually and as a family group. I am not perfect…could probably have done more…but overall, still kept the family in tact…still laughing, reminiscing and talking. Funny, it helped get them all there if Dad was paying their flights.

I recommend trips like this…and if you need to, tie a pork chop around your neck by springing to pay their way…it was well worth every dollar spent.