Hail to my Son the Champion

I’m going to indulge on a completely non-real estate topic because I am a proud dad. On Saturday, my son Luke won first place at his pack’s Pinewood Derby event. He is on cloud 9 and so am I. Luke is in 3rd grade and in his thid year of Cub Scouts. Our first two Pinewoods didn’t go so well. He was in the middle of the group in 1st grade but last year he brought up the rear. He was very disappointed. I felt guilty about it, because I work so much and couldn’t devote much time to help. 

His mother is as busy as I am as my partner in the company, but in January she started researching how to do well in this thing. This past month she took over the advisory position in Luke’s car asembly, and just the other day he put the finishing touches on the paint job- a red lady bug. Luke’s favorite color is red, and his car stood out from the field. It wasn’t the fanciest design, but it was easy to see. 

In the first heat, Luke’s car came in a close second. I was relieved he did well; on the way in from the parking lot I was coaching him on how to deal with disappointment if he had a poor result. Little did we know, the first place car in that heat was the entry that eventually came in second overall. In his next race, Luke ‘s red lady bug won Secetariat style, and if the day ended right there I would have been happy. So would Luke. Little did we know, Luke’s little red lady bug was actually greased lightning! He would win 8 consecutive heats, including a rematch over his first loss, and won the whole derby! There were close to 40 entries. 

All he did was talk about how much he wanted to tell his mom and how proud she’d be. When we got home, Ann was absolutely blown away at the good news. 

We work very hard, and we have a tad bit of guilt that I especially can’t always be home to put the kids to bed or make the time for some things more dads do. I was really hoping that the day would be special, and my perfect scenario would be my son taking disappointment like a good sport. We never dreamed that we’d instead see what a gracious winner he really is. I love it when magic happens, and I’ll never make the mistake of not being open to it when Luke is in the mix.

Congratulations to the Champ, who shares the honor with his late Uncle Paul, who won the thing in 1966. I know he’s proud too.