Keep It Between the Lines

Papa showing Trevin how to "Keep It Between the Lines"

Papa showing Ryler how to "Keep It Between the Lines"

Keep It Between the Lines....   

This is something dad has always taught me.  He'd use this saying for many lessons.  I only hope to be able to pass these lessons along to my boys.

Let me tell you the time I vividly remember this lesson of "Keep It Between the Lines" kid.  He always called me kid.  So I was 14 and he had been teaching me how to drive.  I loved driving and still do to this day.  There's just something about being behind the wheel and free!  So back to my lesson.  We were on a trip to the panhandle to see my grandfather, his dad.  He was ill and his health failing. (How ironic that I think of this story with my own dad's health failing!)  So it was just me and dad on a road trip.  I had been begging to drive before we even left the house.  I had, ok have, a tendency to be rather pushy.  Ha, ha!  So after much persuasion I got my way!  I was so excited, the kind of excited you get when your insides are just fluttering.  So a little ways out of town on a country road, dad pulled over and got out of the car.  It seemed like he was moving in slow motion because my excitement was getting the better of me.  I jumped in the driver's seat and made all the adjustments to fit me perfectly.  He got in the passenger's seat and we were ready to go.  Now here's where it gets good....

I start to drive and I ask dad, "Which way?".  I'll never forget the look on his face.  He got the map out of the glove compartment and handed to me with the most ornery smile and a twinkle in his eye.  He said,"Here's the map, you figure it out!".  That excitement deflated faster than ever.  I said,"I don't know which way.".  He said,"Well you better start looking at the map and figure it out kid.".  So as I was trying to find a place to pull over, he leaned his seat back and turned on the radio to his choice (oldies) and I thought to myself, what now!  He didn't say much besides things like, isn't this fun!  So I gathered myself and studied the map and got a plan.  So I began to drive toward my grandparents, a place I'd been many many times but never really payed much attention on how to get there.  

During this drive is where the lesson "Keep It Between the Lines" kid really played out.  As I'm driving in the wrong direction, I'm almost sure.  He wouldn't tell me if I was going the right way or not.  Talk about patience, my dad has patience like I've never known!  So he began to talk, not about my driving skills or the direction I was going, rather about how life is a lot like driving.  Life is like driving, sometimes you go a little to the left and sometimes you go a little to the right, but if you can keep your life in the middle of the road you will get to where you need to go.  He said sometimes life takes you way far in the ditch and these times are hard but how you get out of the ditch and handle things while driving in the ditch makes you who you are.   He said sometimes life takes you to places you never thought you'd have to go and sometimes you don't realize you're in the ditch.  He said pay attention to everything around you and never just follow.  You may think the path you're on is the ditch but if you believe with all your heart and gut that you're doing the right thing, then stay the course...you will see you were going in the right direction all along.  He said, kid I won't always be here to guide you and nor should I be...you have to grow and make your own mistakes and take responsibilities for them and learn from them and then teach your own children what I've taught you.  Make no mistake by him saying keep it in the middle of the road, did he mean to ride the fence or not take a stand.  He simply meant that the middle of the road was the best place to see where you were going.  Now at this time I'm driving and just really trying to figure out if I'm going in the right direction, he was teaching me an invaluable life lesson.  We talked the whole 6 hours it took to get there....it should've taken about 3 and a half...talk about patience.  My dad has patience for the most important things and none for the insignificant.  Looking back I realize how important it is to teach my own children to think for themselves and "Keep It Between the Lines" because I can't and won't always be there to guide them or protect them.  In that drive I learned many things that day, but I continue to learn many things today from that drive.

Today I am Keeping It Between the Lines...it is taking everything I have in me to do so.  But my heart and gut tell me I'm doing the right thing, so I will keep going and soon realize that I was in the middle of the road all along.  Then I'll smile and know...even when dad is not here, he's still guiding me, teaching me, protecting me, and making me stronger.

These 2 pictures remind of the lessons I learned that day...Papa letting Trevin drive and Papa teaching Ryler to shoot and both lessons say, "Keep It Between the Lines".

I'm in awe of all the life lessons and wonderful memories he's given me and I will do everything I can to teach my boys and pass on all he's given me.  

Trinity