Leaving Home

Happy Fatherhood Friday everyone! After you've had the chance to peruse my blog, it's okay if you leave to head on over to the great bloggers over at dad-blogs.com .

So Lebron James is leaving home.

Let me just say that I'm really not much of a professional sports fan.

I have no intention of turning this post into a rant about how out-of-whack our society's priorities are when it comes to sports. I mean, there are many great things about sports, but frankly most professional athletes are a bunch of way overpaid, immature, cry-babies.

Okay, I best stop.

Actually, what interests me most about the whole Lebron thing is the outcry of hate from the folks in Cleveland about his departure.

At this point you might be thinking, "what the heck does this have to do with fatherhood?"

I think the analogy here is "it's okay to leave the nest" and "you've got to live your life."

I love my children. I love being around them. However, I feel like some measure of my success as a parent is my children being able to, one day, leave and go where their dreams take them.

If those dreams take them far away, that's okay, we'll fly/Skype/etc. If they keep them close to Mom-E and I, that's cool too. Or maybe they go away for awhile, and then decide to come back closer to home.

The point is, there's a huge world out there full of interesting places, people, and cultures (even within the US). And it's okay to savor that. Living in different places is akin to trying different foods (in which case, at this rate, Big Brother is destined to be a home-body.)

I was born and raised in a smallish town in which most people stay there after high school (or return after college). However, my career and my family took me elsewhere. Although you never know where life may take you, at this point, I don't have any intentions of returning to that area to live. Ever. But, when I visit home, I sometimes get this strange, vague sense of "why did you leave?"

In short, my life took me elsewhere.

I'm not here to pass judgment on any individual's decision. Some people have a calling to live in the area where they grew up. Other people may choose to travel the world.

I just think it's important that my boys develop a self-confidence that allows them to recognize that they have options as to where they live, and that "home" may be a very dynamic place over their lives.

Cleveland, leave Lebron alone. In the grand scheme, who cares. There are more important things in this life to worry about.

Have a good weekend,
Busy-Dad-E