Ours go to eleven.

Some of you will remember that line from the movie This Is Spinal Tap when Nigel is explaining the secret to Spinal Taps sound. Their amps went to eleven, while everyone else’s only went to 10.

It’s a great line from a great movie, but for the last 3 years, it’s had another meaning for me.

My son Joe graduated from high school 3 years ago, number 11 in his class. It’s a great honor to be in the top ten of your class, it takes hard work and dedication. You get your picture in the paper and get your diploma first.

But Joe saw it as a badge of honor to be the first one out side the top 10, he embraced it, and so did I. I would have been thrilled if he made the top 10, but you couldn’t take anything away from the kids who did. And I was still very proud of him.

And it got me thinking about what Nigel said.

Fast forward to about 12 months ago, and Rachel is finishing her Jr year, getting ready to be a Sr, and she’s in the top 10. Not by a lot, but she is. And she really wants to be. Not because she wants to be in the paper, or walk in to graduation first, but because she wants to beat Joe. She’s a little competitive that way.

Then this year, she had a few classes that didn’t go as well as they could have. And when they announced the top 10, she wasn’t in it. She was a little disappointed, but still wanted to go to the final GPA to see if she beat Joe.

They haven’t told us for sure where she ended up yet, but I really hope it’s number eleven.

Noting against any of the kids who made the top ten, great kids all. But I think it would be really cool if both of my kids ended up number 11

What else do you learn being in the top 10?

Hell if I know.

I was number 33.

But there are a few things I hope Joe and the Nache learned from me. Nothing to deep, but a few things I tried to instill in them as they went though school.

The first was don’t ever start a fight, but if someone else decides to start one, you finish it. I know violence is never the right answer, but if it comes to it, and some one is trying to hurt you, get them down and ground and pound them or lock in a rear naked choke and don’t let go until a teacher or principal or big John McCarthy pulls you off. Fortunately, they never had to take this advice, but I know they looked out for each other and their friends.

Second, work hard. You won’t always be the smartest person in the room, and there isn’t to much you can do about that. But no one can stop you from working harder. There’s a saying I like “Hard work beats talent, when talent doesn’t work hard”, it’s a good one to remember. Maybe they didn’t work hard on some of the things I wanted them to (mowing the lawn comes to mind). But in times when they didn’t know I was watching, they were working. Helping out at church or cleaning up at a family party, or helping out or doing extra credit at school.

Another saying I shared with my kids was from Abe Lincoln “It’s better to keep silent and be thought a fool, then to speak and remove all doubt”. The dad version was God gave you 2 ears and one mouth for a reason, listen more then you talk. To go along with that, if an old person wants to talk to you, listen. This one has sunk in, and I’ve seen them put it in action.

Lastly, was a simple bit of advice from that famous philosopher Dalton (Patrick Swazey in Roadhouse). “BE NICE” or as my mom would say, “You can catch more flies with Honey then you can with vinegar”. You don’t know what other people are going through, so cut them some slack and be nice to them. I’m glad they are nice kids.

So there you have it, life lessons from a B minus student who became a dad, to his A plus kids. I hope with everything else they learned, they remember some of this.

I look forward to watching them continue to learn and grow.

I look forward to helping them along the way.

I look forward to people telling Heidi and me we did a good job, and raised good kids.

I look forward to saying “Thanks, ours go to eleven”