It's Not A Charade, Mom

Man, today was a good(hot) day.  It was supposed to be over 100 degrees.  Thank HEAVENS that it was not.  Today my mom and I went to a Minnesota Twins game and I was afeared it was going to be over 100 like the weatherpeople predicted.
P.S. Did you know that afeared is actually a word?  Huh.  Who'd-a-thunk.
Luckily it was only around 96 instead.  Which, don't get me wrong, is still pretty darn hot.  I am not a big fan of overly hot.  I like to sweat when I am working out, and that's about it.  If I am sitting comfortably and sweating, there is a problem in my opinion.
Don't get me started on humidity.
Minnesota is the capital of humidity.  And it is very uncomfortable.

I GOT A SHIRT THERE!!
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You cannot guess how long it took me to fill up that space with asterisks. (It wasn't a matter of seconds, I promise)
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So...this is the first election that I've actually cared about.
I try to stay pretty dang neutral on just about everything ever everywhere.
But I actually have an opinion on this one.  I won't state what it is, but you can know that I have one.
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This is the section of the post where I let you in on a little bit of my life!
Today my family is extremely blessed.  More blessed than I deserve for sure, and my parents have all worked hard for everything they have.
I say all because in my opinion I have 3 parents.
A mom.
A dad.
A step-dad.
My mom is a doctor.  Not a doctor in that she fixes bones and performs surgeries and things like that, but that she has her doctorate.  She first graduated from college well before I was born.  She graduated with her doctorate in 2006.  That means she was getting to that point of her education for over 20 years.  She has established a business of her own and has been running it for 8 years.  She is also in the middle of writing a book on leadership.
My step-dad is a corporate lawyer.  He has worked at his job extremely hard, and he even continues to work incredibly hard.  There are many days of the year in which he is up just as late as I am, but instead of having fun, playing games, or posting on his blog, he is working.  I cannot even begin to fathom his dedication to what I for the most part don't understand and don't really care about.  It is nothing short of incredible.
My dad is a collections agent for a hospital.  This is not very luxurious sounding.  And it's definitely not luxurious.  But he has worked in the same place for over 25 years.  Not just the same place, the same job.  He has been offered numerous advancement opportunities, but he has turned them down time after time.
This may seem strange, but do you know why he did it?
Because of his family.  My parents were divorced when I was 7.  My mom left our family and my dad was left with a 7 year old, a 10 year old, and a 13 year old.  He turned down those promotions so that he could at any time be there for us.  If he accepted them, he would have made more money, true, but he would have had to give up the opportunity to be there for our sick days, our choir concerts, our sporting events, and whatever else we needed him for.
I have talked to him recently about his job, and he thinks it is the worst part of his day.  His job is just what he does to afford the things that he loves to do.
He has worked that long at a job that he doesn't even like so that he could support his family and his interests.
My dad is my ultimate example when it comes to loving your family.  I have no doubt that if I needed his left leg for any reason, he would give it to me.  Every time I come home I make sure to see him and visit him in the home I grew up in in little town Wisconsin.  I had a hard time as a teenager relating to my parents or telling them that I loved them.  I still sometimes feel silly when I tell my mom that I love her, but when I see my dad I have no problem telling him that I love him and giving him a big hug.
I was raised in a family of powdered milk, hamburger helper for almost EVERY dinner, and lots of tears.  I now live in a family that is more abundant on smiles and laughter than on ramen noodles and Kool-Aid.  Hard work pays off.
I am proud of where I come from and wouldn't change a bit of it.
I'm glad I have the family I do and the history I do.
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I apologize for that last section.  It became quite lengthy and involved.
I would just like to close this post with a link to the best speech I have ever read regarding the topic of leadership.
Leaders to Managers: The Fatal Shift
Please read it.
Almost everything I believe about leadership can be found in this speech.
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My mom pointed out a hair on my cheek today that points straight out.  It doesn't follow the same pattern of my facial hair, but instead juts into the atmosphere in defiance to the restraints and ideas of a conformist follicle system.

It is somewhere in that image.
I doubt you can see it, though.

Sweetest of dreams, my dears.
~Boy