Over the years, I have collected so many T-Shirts personally designed by my boys. I usually don’t wear them except in the confines of the house but I guess to show my appreciation, I decided to wear the last one made as I relaxed on my day off. This shirt was done probably a year ago – it simply says: “This Daddy is an All-Star.” One of the more “sophisticated” ones, as it was a press-on.
At dinner tonight, the conversation shifted to coolness. Jonathan had previously told me: “Daddy, I love you, even though you’re not cool” but I guess I just thought he heard that from some devilish television show and didn’t really understand what it meant. Well, he decided to relieve me of my self-deception. He said – daddy, you are just not cool. Look at your shirt! Connie busted out laughing instead of coming to my defense.
Well I got something to say. Its true, I should not be wearing these hand-made shirts outside the house. But the fact that my generation and this generation both understand the word “cool,” means we have one thing in common. We both use a word that still has value and relevance. The word “cool” has outlasted all the new slang words.
“Hip, groovy, crazy, nervous, far-out, rad, and tubular have for the most part not had the staying power or continued universal appeal of cool.” Dictionary.com.
The jury is still out on how long newer expressions of approval such as def and phat will survive. Ed Young said, “we used to be cool, until our kids made us un-cool.” We never really lost anything (or at least that’s what I took away from his statement.) So, in some sense we will always be cool in our own eyes. I just need to focus on what will forever remain cool. I’ve compiled a short list:
· Having dinner together as a family and enjoying our best laughs there.
· Knowing my seven year old could poke fun at his dad and know its “all-good”
· Praying together as a family at night and appreciating how good God is to us.
· Enjoying the fact that they are enjoying all the cartoons we did in our time – except they are now full-length, high-tech movies like Batman, Hulk, Iron Man, etc.
· Hearing “I love you” from my way-cool middle-schooler, Josh, as I drop him off to school each day.
· Appreciating that they still want to introduce us to their friends.
I may not dress cool, dance cool, or talk cool anymore, but I can still help with homework, work hard and provide for their cool choices, and treat their mom right as somehow she never seems to lose her cool points.
