godspeed...

i received an email from our school that a father of two students (a 3rd grader and a kindergartner) passed away over the weekend...

i didn't know the dad personally, i knew who he was and that he was a very jovial, friendly and popular dad amongst our mutual friends/parents....

despite not knowing him, i'm so sad to hear the news...  i can 't even imagine the kind of grief they must be experiencing...  i pray for him, his wife and their children, family and friends...  i pray that God helps them in their sorrow...  sheltering and embracing them through the stormy and weary days ahead...

i just learned that the dad was also very connected to the chicago music scene as a musician for a very popular local band and as a manager of many bands - local and elsewhere...  he wrote the song below about his life and his children, it's performed by the band, kaiser cartel...

please join me and leave a light on for this family tonight...

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the "GO DADDY GO!" sighting

every once in a while i spot a dad who is doing something SO COOL that i want to say something. but i feel like if i do, i'll either embarass him, or me, or piss him off or scare him. so, i don't say anything. i just smile to myself and silently send him all kinds of positive vibes....

but i always regret not saying something... so, i figure why not give the guy a shout out on here. i figure i'll call it the "GO DADDY GO!" sighting and i encourage you to send your "GO DADDY GO" sightings to me if you don't have a blog of your own - i'm happy to post them for you! :)

anyhoo... this weekend, i had to run some errands downtown and i spotted a "GO DADDY GO" on the corner of state and madison.

actually, i spotted six teenaged, high pitched screeching fashion victims girls on the corner of state and madison. they were all carrying bags from forever 21. (see... your eyes are rolling up and around your cranium, just like mine did!) right on cue, they started to yammer on and on about their myspace pages (STFU haters) and their shuffle ipods and some band that i've never heard of... it was then, i saw THE LONE DAD.

the poor guy had that "i just woke up from an emo music induced hypnosis, buried under an avalanche of retro inspired disposable fashion made by a foreign legion of sleep deprived naked children" look. his face was flushed. his eyes rimmed in red. he was wearing one of those practical yellow windbreakers, a pair of jeans and some sneaks. the wind forced him to hunch over a bit and to shove his freezing hands into his pockets. his salt and pepper hair was a little mussed up. it was obvious that the fresh air was slowly reviving him.

i just had visions of that poor man agreeing to take his daughter (i may be assuming too much, but he had that fatherly "the light's red, katie. (jaywalk and i'll kill you)" demeanor) and her five friends downtown to shop and hang out. (or i dunno, maybe he lost a bears playoff bet.) i mean you might as well say, "yes, of course, i can collect all the scorpions on the australian continent. BLINDFOLDED." if you're going to agree to something like that.

GOOD GOD! he may even have started the day by taking them on the L or on the metra. and when i spotted them, the day was young - so you KNOW they were on their way to even MORE shopping (i call it the bermuda quadrangle of shopping - macy's, old navy, nordstrom rack and H & M) and then *GULP* lunch!

*sniff* he was so BRAVE! :)

so, to the dad in the yellow windbreaker on the corner of state and madison with the gaggle of six teenaged girls - GO, DADDY, GO! BRAVO! BRAVO!