The Art of Being Cool

Right now Kailyn thinks I'm the coolest/funniest guy in the world and laughs at all my silly faces and noises. Like this one:



I know in a few short years, however, she will realize how corny I really am. That's when she'll request I drop her off at pre-school 3 blocks away so she won't have to be seen with me. Sort of like how Helen views me now :)

I have to admit when that time arrives I won't be mad because there are times when I act decidedly uncool (I know, hard to believe.) Here are a couple of recent examples that happened all in the same day:

I had to go to Boston on some family business, and while there got a chance to see a Red Sox game. Before the game Jason and I went to the team store, where the team's sideline reporter for the local cable TV station was making a 'celebrity appearance.' Normally I eschew going to these things because 1) I don't get starstruck easily 2) feel silly as a grown-ass man asking another adult for their autograph or photo and 3) have a large ego and altered sense of reality from my TV anchor days to the point where I still think people should be asking ME for MY autograph (j/k - sorta.) But in this case, since I was playing a tourist in my hometown, the line to meet her was short and she was really pretty, I went ahead and took a pic. Afterwards, I was happy I did:



When we got inside Fenway Park for the game, I decided to contact a former high school classmate of mine who works for the ballclub. He and I haven't seen each other in years, but I had his cell number and figured it was worth a shot to shoot him a text and say hi. To my surprise, he texted me back and invited me into his private suite. I went over, we chatted for a while, and I took a pic with him because by this point in the day I was already a picture-taking fool and didn't really care anymore. (Since the pic above with the reporter is much better, I'll spare you this photo.)

Minutes after I left the suite and was walking back to my seat, I decided to text Helen and tell her about my encounter, writing 'I just shot the breeze with xxxx!!!' (this guy is a kind of a big deal in Boston, hence the triple exclamation points.) But in my excitement of seeing him, I accidentally sent the text to him instead of Helen. Mortified, I sent another one apologizing and he was cool about it. But I was SO embarrassed, especially because I felt like a teeny-bopper girl who just met Justin Bieber, and as I mentioned I hardly ever get excited over these kinds of things. It was made all the worse because in hindsight I'm sure Helen didn't really care or need to know at that very moment what had transpired, and I felt stupid for texting MINUTES after it happened.

After the wave of shame and panic passed and my face stopped being red, I was comforted knowing that back in Seattle, Kailyn still thinks I'm a perfect blend of Asian Fonz, Kenny Powers and Dave Chappelle no matter what I do - one of the million reasons I love her. Hopefully her blind adulation of me will last a couple of more years.