My point is this…I am overweight. I weighed in at the doctor’s office the other day at 208. Now for some that might be ok. But I’m 5’11″, in my 40′s and I get very little exercise because…well…mostly because I’m lazy and don’t want to try and force it into my day.

But here’s the thing. Lately I’ve been feeling sluggish. Granted, I was dealing with sciatic pain shooting down my leg, but still…I haven’t been myself at all. Normally I’m pretty good about remembering certain things, especially if it’s something I find interesting or important. Lately? Not so much. Oh I could blame it on all the work or the travel or the appointments but let’s be honest here…I’m just kinda lazy. In MY mind, I WANT to blame all these things but it all comes down to the complete and honest fact that I just plain lost interest in exercise about…oh…maybe 5 years ago.

But now, after my steroid epidural injection on Tuesday, I have been turning over a new leaf. I’ve been eating healthier, exercising in various ways every day (mostly through walking or working around my house) and trying to sleep a little better. With leg pain, I would find myself waking up at all hours of the night, struggling to get comfortable. Now, with my leg feeling much better, I’m sleeping more soundly and thusly (can I use that here? It seems appropriate enough) I am more aware of what is going on in my life. And here’s what has been going on this week…

NOTHING.

And it has been awesome! No work, no hurrying around, no checklist of things that HAVE to be done. Not saying I’ve been lazy, because I haven’t. I’ve had work to do around here and I’ve had the time to do them all in my own time. The kids have had to be places and I’ve taken them. But there hasn’t been an overwhelming sense that my life is completely out of control. And I think that is my problem. In my nature, I am not lazy. Quite the opposite, in fact. I like moving around and doing stuff. The problem is when all the stuff becomes so piled high that I think I start to shut down and don’t want to do anything except wake up, go to work, get done with work and go to bed. It’s a vicious cycle and it can wear anybody down after a while. Life is like that, I imagine. So many things are out of our control but we are forced to face ALL of them, whether we want to or not. In my case, this week I have been facing my health. I’m not happy with myself for getting this way and at 208 pounds, I’m pretty sure I can do better than that!

So I am working on getting better. I hope to continue what I’m doing all summer long. Very little travel allows me time to walk around my neighborhood, see my neighbors, hang with my wife and kids and develop an overall sense of how my life should be. Life is wonderful…and I need to keep that in perspective. So…I’m eating a salad, cottage cheese and tomato slices for lunch. I am pretty sure that is much healthier than a cheeseburger and fries from Fast Food Store #1. I walked my dog this morning at a brisk pace for maybe 2 miles or more. Pretty sure that’s better than sitting on an airplane for 3 hours. Tonight I’ll be traveling to Columbus with our friends as our kids compete in a baseball tournament. I believe that is better than sitting through ANOTHER Reds rain delay. So, as you can see, life IS better right now and I plan on continuing this for the entire summer. This is the summer of me. Time to get on it and make my life better. So have a sip of that Kool Aid and wish me luck! I gotta lose 15 pounds by September! I think I can do that actually…

If you’ve ever played sports, you know what I’m talking about when I mention “The Sweet Spot.” In baseball, it’s that place on the bat where, once the ball hits it, you know it’s out of the park. In basketball, it’s the place on the court where you can’t miss. In football…uh….well…I dunno what sweet spot means for football. I imagine there are plenty of sports that coin the term “sweet spot” into the vernacular and so you get the idea. But in life, where is YOUR sweet spot.

Every year, I get crazy busy from February through most of April into May. Every year, I find myself running from place to place, airport to airport, location to location, hotel to hotel, and every year, sometime in May, it comes to a screeching halt and then? I find myself in a state of panic. NO MORE WORK??? NO MORE RUNNING? WHAT DO I DO WITH MYSELF???

Well…I look for my sweet spot.

It’s hard to explain because honestly? I’m not sure if even I understand my mindset. It’s not easy going from mach 5 to a screeching halt. It’s kind of disconcerting actually and so when I do find that I have downtime, and I do find that I can sit back and relax a little bit, you’ll have to pardon me if I feel a little puckered. I’m a little edgy at first, not really sure of my state. This week, I had some house stuff to get done, a little bit of organizing to do and a visit to the doctor that kept me busy. The idea of feeling better has been on my mind quite a bit lately. The pain radiating down my leg has been a constant irritation for over a month now and it was time to get it fixed. Yesterday I went in for a spinal steroid injection. It was painful and not a pleasant experience. But immediately following, I had a moment of clarity.

I need to get healthy in not only a physical way, but a mental way as well. Every year I do this to myself where I come off the road and I’m more mentally exhausted than I am physically. The physical part of it I get. I mean…I’m a big SEE FOOD guy. If I see it, I eat it. This, obviously, is NOT the best way to stay healthy. I’m not a gym rat. I tried that and hated it. I can’t play basketball anymore due to this nagging back issue, so I have that I’m dealing with. So I have to find something that works for me to help me get into a little bit of shape. I figure I’m 44. I’m not dead yet. I need to start thinking of my body as more of a temple than a bottomless food pit.

The MENTAL aspect of not working every day in some way is more of a drag than I probably let people believe. I go from place to place, work, work, work, and never seem to stop. Last year was even worse for that. Between 2 football games a week for NFL Net and CBS, my entire fall and winter months are a complete blur. Basketball season is always a busy time and then you get into the NCAA tournament, add in some golf events, throw in some baseball games and VOILA! I just blew through 8 months of my life and my head is on fire. Granted, I did take a 5 day respite in Destin for some fun time with the family and our friends, but even that seemed rushed considered I had that sandwiched between the NCAA semifinals and the Masters, 2 HUGE events where there is probably more pressure there than I lead everyone to believe.

So now I’m sitting on my back porch. Yesterday I got the epidural and my back is feeling MUCH better (thank you) and I took a long walk with Stella this morning, rocked some 80′s tunes in my ear buds and I am trying to find my sweet spot. There’s a cool breeze, the sun is smiling and life has slowed down a little bit. It’s nice to just sit and watch the planes fly overhead, listen to the birds and think about nothing, if only for a few minutes. Clarity is not something that comes easily to me. Most of the time, my head is a jumbled mess of directions and numbers and worry. But for today, I’m letting that all go. Today I have found a sweet spot and I think I’m just gonna sit here and soak that up.

What would life be like without our Moms? It doesn’t matter really if your mother is with you or not, there is always a piece of her inside of who you are. In my case, my mother was instrumental in me becoming the man I am today. She gave me a great life and I hope that she understands how much she means to me. The mother of my children, my wife and partner, is also a very important cog in my life. She has been a terrific mother for our 2 children and has managed to teach me a thing or two about life and how to live it. I can’t imagine being with someone who is a better mother, friend and partner than she is.

Here is a little video I put together for her. Time has just flown by over the last 11 years and I wish there were a way to slow it down. So many times I return home from a road trip and find that my kids are a little more grown up than they were when I left. The clock manages to continue to tick away when I’m gone and there are moments that I wish I could bottle up and keep forever. Here are a few that I managed to capture to keep and now I can share with you again.

Thank you for being such a great mother for our kids Stephanie! I love you…and I know they love you more than anything in the world!

Your Husband

Last night at the Downtown Cincinnati Convention Center, hundreds of people showed up to bid on auction items, enjoy some food and drinks and to participate in one of the biggest galas yet in order to fight against the terrible disease that affects thousands of children every year. Below are some photos of the night. If you wish to donate to such a worthy cause and would also like to be a part of the fight against pediatric cancers, please visit The Cure Starts Now website and feel free to donate. There isn’t a better cause than the fight against cancer. Let’s work to save all of the children who are dying from various cancerous diseases…shall we?

Keith Desserich addresses the audience

An auction item from the Beechwood Tigers families

Ava had a few items she wanted to bid on!

Coolest Auction Item Of The Night? An opportunity to see Nik Wallenda cross the Grand Canyon in person next month!

Aaaaaanyway…

So tonight I had things to do. Actually…I had a schedule. It was hand-written on a blue sticky note and it had my itinerary for the night. It looked like this…

This was all fine and good but it’s what ISN’T on there that was the more challenging aspect of it.

First, let’s break this down. Stephanie pulled away from our home today at approximately 12:33pm. I remember this because I glanced at my watch while I was wheeling out the lawn mower to tackle the jungle formerly known as our yard. As I watched her mother’s tail lights disappear up our street, I put in my earphones, cranked up the music and chuckled to myself…”I got this.” And I did! For maybe a couple hours. Then I picked the kids up from school and it was showtime!

2:58pm – 8 minutes late getting into the pickup line at school because I forgot I had to run to the bank. I get a phone call on the Batphone…
Christopher: “Where are you?”
Me (trying to hide the fact that I’m late and at the back of the line): “I’m in the line. Don’t you see me?”
Christopher: “No. We’ll walk to the BACK of the school so we don’t have to wait here longer.” *click*

There ya have it. I’ve been in charge for a whole 8 minutes and I’m already a failure.

After picking the kids up, my (internal) itinerary says I have 2 hours for them to get their homework done, get them a snack, get them organized and off to the first stop of the night…Christopher’s baseball practice. 1 hour and 47 minutes later, Ava has her homework binder in her arms, paper falling out of it, an eraser-less pencil clutched in one hand, her new cell phone in the other. Christopher is rushing down the stairs, bag full of clothes his mother packed for him over his shoulder, his new birthday IPhone in one hand, basketball shoes in the other. I rush to get him a water bottle before we leave (it’s on the list!) and conveniently leave it on the table as we rush out the door to baseball practice. And so the night begins.

Upon arriving at baseball practice, I drop our children off at the park and, realizing we (I) forgot the water bottle, return home to get it. I also grab a water bottle for Ava and a soda for myself (calorie free Vanilla Coke. Perfect!) and proceed out the door with both dogs staring at me with that “Please take us!” look in their eyes. I pretend not to see them and keep on movin’!

Back at the baseball field, I watch the clock as time starts to grow short. I have 15 minutes to get Christopher from baseball practice to a basketball skills practice and it’s 6:13. In my head I crunch the numbers…6 mile drive, maybe 7 stop lights, gotta get them in the car…that’s at least 18 minutes…UNLESS I hit 5 of the lights! THEN it’s possible! As we head to the car, Ava asks for her phone. I have conveniently left it on the bleachers right where she gave it to me so she wouldn’t lose it when she went off to play with her friend. *sigh*

Ava runs and gets the phone, rushes up to jump car as we’re pulling away. Chris changes in the backseat while Ava and I search for something to listen to on XM radio. Ava wants Disney, I want 80′s On 8 and Christopher is busy answering texts in the backseat while trying to pull on his basketball shorts. I somehow managed to make it with 2 minutes to spare (hey…4 of those lights were on YELLOW mister!!!) and Christopher is shooting layups in the gym by 6:30. WIN!!!

Unfortunately, Ava had decided to roll in the grass at the park and is all kinds of itchy. And so, with a little under an hour before her gymnastics class, I rush her home to get her a quick shower and a snack. When we arrive, Barkley and Stella are staring at me. It’s 6:45. Their dinnertime. Ava showers, I feed the dogs, update my Facebook status and somehow end up descrambling Ava’s english words for HER homework (I dunno how this happened) and then we’re off and running her to her class.

7:22pm – I drop Ava off at the studio for her 7:30pm class and I watch her walk into the building. I have to pick up Christopher in 10 minutes. I don’t like leaving Ava but she assures me that it’s okay and I’m not doing anything wrong. So I head south to get Fer.

7:35pm – Arrive back at the gym as things are wrapping up and my phone rings. Ava’s instructor hasn’t arrived and Ava is all alone. Luckily, her assistant principal (a friend of our family) is there and calls me. So now I feel REALLY bad as I’m rushing Christopher out of the gym to hurry back to get Ava! As I’m pulling out of the parking lot, I get a text that the instructor has arrived and no need to hurry. I sigh and slow down after peeling out of a school parking lot. All is good.

After Ava’s class is over, I take both of the kids to Skyline for dinner, get them home, get Fer showered and everyone is in bed by 9:35pm. Except I’ve left the windows open upstairs all day and it’s about 85 degrees so…after a little bit of complaining…I allow both kids to head downstairs to sleep in the much cooler basement.

It’s now 10:55 as I wrap this up. Being Mom for a day has its headaches but ya know what? I kind of enjoy it when I get a chance to do it. It shows me how much Stephanie does for this family and I should never take that for granted. And now…I’m off to bed. Gotta get the kids up and moving tomorrow for school!

The Opera House has always been dear to my heart. Growing up in such a small town, I spent many days running around that town square and, when I wasn’t hanging out at the video arcade on the corner, I was drinking Mr. Pibb & eating popcorn for a quarter at the old Opera House. Who can imagine how many movies I saw there. One of the movies that sticks in my head was a “holiday” film that was screened after the Christmas parade called “Santa Clause Conquers The Martians.” Originally released in 1964, this ridiculous film was about as weird as it sounds but for whatever reason, I remember seeing it in that old theater. I also saw “ET,” “Star Wars,” and hundreds of other movies including a little movie called “Tarzan, The Ape Man” that starred Bo Derek in 1981 and had considerably more nudity in it than my Mom thought I should be seeing at my age (13).

Hmmm…wonder what’s in there?

Anyway…ahem…so…where was I? Oh yeah…the Opera House. Okay…so flash forward to 2013. Apparently Hollywood is shutting down the film industry. No, no…they’re not NOT making movies anymore. They are literally not using film anymore. The days of actually using 35MM film is almost over and old movie houses across the country are being forced to update or else they won’t be able to show movies anymore (well…except for old films like “Santa Clause Conquers The Martians”…which IS a classic). So here’s where YOU come in. I’m looking for a little effort to keep this awesome movie house open for this community which deserves to have it keep its doors open.

It’s not a toaster…it’s a projector!

If you are a fan of history and have a place in your heart for the past, I am asking that you take a moment and donate for the cause of this amazing establishment. Trust me when I tell you it’s worthy of a few of your dollars. It’s a testament to our times that places like this are closing their doors at an alarming rate. It’s important that the history of our country is preserved in more ways than just museums and mausoleums. A place like the Twin City Opera House stands as an open door to our past. It showcases what we were and how far we’ve come. Granted, if I had MY way, it would show old 35MM films for the rest of time but, in some cases, the future dictates what we have to do and moving forward in this case isn’t the worst thing that could happen. This is a great opportunity to benefit a caring community and help keep a showcase of its past open to the public.

Here is the link. Please donate and if you are ever in southeast Ohio, you should stop by and visit the ol’ Opera House. It’s worth the trip. And then swing over to the Blue Bell Restaurant. They used to have great ice cream. Of course, that was 30 years ago but hey…some things never change!

The theater lobby

A couple of days ago, bombs were detonated at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, killing 3 and injuring over 180 others. There have been many questions asked about this and other domestic attacks on innocent people. The masses want to know who, what, when, where & why. In this, the day & age of information and easy access, everyone demands to know…HOW can this happen?

The easy answer is…no one knows. Obviously there are psychological issues going on here. Despite whatever reason the killer or bomber give, there are ALWAYS psychological issues. In THEIR minds, they have a cause. But think about it…how easy is it to have a thought so psychologically disturbing that you immediately push it to the dark recesses of your mind, hoping to never think that thought again? And the thought you had? You’re not the only person thinking it. You just happen to know how to deal with it. But there are some people out there who watch a movie, or see a television show, or who have internet access who have seen things that are so disturbing, so provocative and then they are abused or molested or mistreated in some form and so…they have a thought. It starts as a seed but then it grows and before you know it, a young man is walking into an elementary school with enough gun power to start a small war or bombs are planted inside a building housing hundreds of normal, everyday people who are simply going to work. And this doesn’t just happen in America. This happens everywhere. The idea of TERRORISM is to scare us, to make us uneasy, to disrupt our lives, making it difficult for us to even want to leave our homes.

I can’t even begin to imagine what a family who has suffered through the loss of one of their children must be dealing with. I can’t begin to imagine what a community must go through to pick up the pieces of a mass killing at a local movie theater. I can’t begin to wonder how a community can put on its shoes and begin shifting through the rubble of a destroyed building, finding cell phones and filing cabinets and body parts scattered all over the street. These things I pray I will never have to endure. But people do and then they are hurt and angry and confused. But then you know what happens? Life goes on. And even though the memory of the deceased NEVER go away, we have no choice but to move forward.

But we want to know…why? Why would someone do such a horrible thing? So we wait while hundreds put the pieces together and find whoever caused such despair and then we want action. We want that person brought to justice. We want something to happen to make the pain stop but it doesn’t. Even after the criminal is caught or kills himself or gives himself up, the pain never really goes away. But we NEED to know WHY?

Here’s a thought…we will NEVER truly know why. Here’s another thought…we don’t really WANT to know WHY. Because to truly understand WHY would mean we could be that dark also. The horrific thoughts that our brain has the capability to process and then hide away would be brought to light and we don’t REALLY want that. It’s not who we are. We may have terrible thoughts but we would never act on them. But there are some who just can’t push those thoughts aside. There are some who are willing to build a bomb in their basement, willing to load automatic weapons, fly planes into buildings, send drones into helpless communities, push a big red button. There are those who do not care one way or another how their actions affect the lives of others. They don’t care about the children the kill. They don’t care about the lives they affect. They don’t care about the repercussions of their actions. In MY opinion, all they want are attention. And so…with that…I give you MY solution to all of this. How do we make it stop?

Stop the presses.

Stop the media coverage.

Stop pasting the faces of the killers all over the newspapers and television shows and the internet.

When the asshole (or assholes) who detonated the bombs in Boston are captured, give them their trial. Once they are tried and found guilty, I say we throw them in a prison, lock the door and throw away the key. Literally drop the key into a grate and forget they’re there. No food, no windows, no contact with the outside world. And that would be that. Is it barbaric? I don’t know…no more barbaric than what they have done. No more barbaric than electrocuting them or injecting their bodies with a drug that will allow them to die peacefully. And it wouldn’t cost us anything. And once they’ve passed, burn their bodies and that would be that. But here’s the catch…the only ones that are allowed to see the face or faces of the people who did this are the ones whose lives have been turned upside down. Only the families of Martin Richard, the 8-year old who was killed in the Boston bombing, and the other 2 families of the deceased should be allowed to see the killer’s face. As a public forum, I believe all we need to know is that the killer has been brought to justice and then leave it be. Because, by pasting the picture of the Adam Lanza’s of the world all over every media outlet in the world, we are enabling other idiots who have similar thoughts.

Want to be famous? Make a statement? Teach others how TERRIBLE you can be? Kill others and become famous. Your face will forever be remembered by millions and then you will live forever!

Think I’m wrong? I can guarantee you this thought is one that EVERY mass murderer has had. It’s in our DNA to WANT to be accepted. We WANT to be famous. Just turn on your tv and you see it everywhere! Everyone wants their 15 minutes of fame! Whether it’s getting hit in the face with a pie, singing karaoke on one of the gazillion musical tryouts posing as entertainment or even scoring your own 23 minute show by being a redneck, we ALL want to be famous! So…what better way to get attention quickly than by killing the innocent?

Obviously there are more psychological issues to it than that but at the root of it, I believe the need to be important drives ALL of these mass killings. Whether it’s al Qaeda, Jimmy Hoffa, or Timothy McVeigh, it’s all about attention.

I say we don’t give it to them.

Turn off the televisions. Stop posting the pictures. Once they’ve been tried, throw them in a dark room and call it a day. If anything, this will serve as a warning to anyone else having the thought of killing someone that it doesn’t matter what you do or how many you kill, you will NOT be immortalized. Whoever set off the bombs in downtown Boston should never be seen again. Once the FBI and the CIA and the local police departments corner the coward who decided it was a good idea to do such a horrific thing, they should be tried and then, upon the vote of a jury, if found guilty, they should be left to rot without a roar but with a whimper.

Will this stop it from happening again? I don’t know. But it might cause someone who has a horrible idea to pause and consider their actions. You WON’T be famous. You WON’T be immortalized. You WILL disappear without a trace. And we, as a society, as a community, as a united body, will move forward. We will deal with the grief and the pain. We will deal with the anger and the confusion. But we will move forward and eventually, we will forget you and remember only those that died because of you.

It’s maybe not a perfect plan, I admit…but it’s better than what we’re doing at this point. Well…at least it is in my opinion. And that and a nickel will get you very little these days…

ADDITIONAL THOUGHT: After taking a few moments to consider this post, I had another thought. Maybe, instead of posting pictures of the killers, we post photos of those that were killed in their wake. In this way, we will always remember those innocents who were killed in senseless acts of terror. To honor this idea, here are a few of those that I wish to remember on this day…

MAY THEY NEVER BE FORGOTTEN

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Nothing like a little Florida sunshine for spring break! This year, like last, we find ourselves in Destin, Florida, soaking up a lot of sun, enjoying the beach and getting a lot of much needed R&R. We are here with a bunch of our friends and yesterday, 12 of us headed out to do some golfing at a nice little par 3 course called The Golf Garden. This was the first time I have taken Christopher out for a round of golf and I am proud to say he did really well! He was getting under the ball and managed to hit it up on the green from the tee a couple times! A couple things he will need to work on before he hits the grown-up course though…his putting (which can ALWAYS be difficult) and his driving skills. I let him drive the cart most of the way but he managed to roll it over a wood path guide on the 7th hole, effectively freaking him out a little bit. But we rolled it off and got back on course without any issues! Here are some pictures of our day with our friends Jax & his dad, Doug. We had a great time and then went out for some wings after. It was an afternoon I will never forget!

On their own!

Jax is lining up his shot…

Wings & pretty girls after (it was like going to a 6th grade dance…LOL)

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!! He’s DRIVING?!?!?!

I post a lot of things on here that involve my kids. Obviously, right now, they are the most important things going on in my life and to be perfectly honest…trying to raise kids these days is becoming more & more difficult. Take for example…today. My son texts me that he accidentally downloaded an explicit version of a song by rapper Lil Wayne. For those of you who don’t know who Lil Wayne is, let me give you an example of his lyrics…

Uh…

Hang on…

Well…

Ok…on SECOND thought…I don’t think I CAN post any of his lyrics because quite frankly…they’re all pretty crude and I don’t want to even bother trying to edit this stuff down.

So let’s just say that Lil Wayne has some pretty x-rated lyrics that are NOT for kids. So Christopher owns up to the fact that he has downloaded an explicit song and on THAT level, I’m proud of him. So I go and listen to this song and it is EXTREMELY vulgar and NOT for kids Christopher’s age. Now I have THIS to deal with: I KNOW my son listens to this stuff and despite the fact that I hate that he’s heard it, there’s no taking it back now.

This situation is not unique to just my kids. I’ve ready articles on how parents have tried to lock up their internet and police all media and put passwords on everything and use a deadbolt on their bedroom doors and I have to wonder…where do I draw the line? He’s 10 and he has friends who have older brothers and sisters and I’m pretty sure THEY’VE listened to it and that’s how all this stuff gets circulated and so here we are.

I get why Christopher likes rap music. Rap music is “cool.” Personally, I think most of it is crap but I imagine my parents thought the same of my music when I was younger (and probably still do, for that matter). I can’t fault him for liking something I don’t. Part of the great thing about music is that it’s anti-establishment. I used to be a big fan of Eminem…until I grew up and got tired of hearing how he would *bleep* the *bleep* until the *bleep*-ing *bleep* got *bleeped*. I fed my rock palate on Nirvana and Marilyn Manson and the KINGS of double entendre, AC/DC. They’re just words. But when you’re 10…ARE they just words?

There’s a reason why there’s a sticker on the CD case at Best Buy. But when ITunes sticks Lil Wayne’s latest album on the top of their “New Releases” list and Christopher’s friends are all listening to it, what am I gonna do about it? One of the cool things about ITunes is that you can sample the songs before you buy them. But when the songs are by Lil Wayne and are beyond vulgar, how am I supposed to control that? Some will say he shouldn’t even HAVE access to it. But is that simply hiding him from the reality that some media IS obscene? Obviously I don’t want him listening to it but I remember when Nazareth was singing about “messing with a son of a bitch” when I was a kid and I thought that was the most insane thing I had ever heard! So now MY kid is listening to a guy who came from the rough side of Atlanta rapping about sex and violence and things he probably won’t understand for another couple years and I don’t know how to stop it. It’s already out there…so what do I do?

For the interim, I politely asked Christopher to delete it from his ITouch. I then offered to buy him the edited version if he really wanted it. I can’t help that he’s already heard the words that are in it. I imagine he’s already heard most of the words anyway. It’s the way that Lil Wayne uses the words that worries me. If anything, I don’t want my kid growing up thinking it’s okay to use certain words that he uses in his songs. It’s derogatory and disrespectful. Christopher and I have had “The Talk” about using cuss words. He knows where I stand on that issue. However I don’t know if MY thoughts on certain cuss words ever went beyond cussing with his buddies, saying the occasional “S” word or using profanity when he gets hurt on the football field. The level of cussing used in most rap today is WAY beyond MY version of using profanity.

So I am a bad parent who allows my kids access to ITunes. I also allow them access to NetFlix (which puts adult titles right next to kids titles) and they know the password on our television if they really wanted to watch my recorded episodes of “The Walking Dead.” My kids (and most kids these days) are really smart like that. They figure it out and can get around it. Luckily, I have a kid who knows when he’s gone over the line with certain things and he can talk to me or his mother about it. I don’t like what my kids have already heard or seen in this day of media overload, but I don’t know how to stop it. I guess the best I can do is hope that we have raised them correctly to this point and allow them to decide if what they are seeing or hearing is too much. I hope Steph & I have done right by them. Because obviously Lil Wayne doesn’t give a shi…er…crap.