5:30 AM … Father and Son at the Gym
If one will simply take the time to look around, local heroes abound. Yes, they do and not surprisingly they do in the most normal, unassuming, everyday episodes of life. No doubt the most notable, those that garner media attention, usually involve some heroic or super human act … pulling someone out of a burning car or home, administering CPR to a heart attack victim, subduing an out of control airline passenger plus the most recent heroic acts in the all too many high profile shootings in our schools. In no way do I wish to take anything away from these heroic acts. However, this blog entry is about the more mundane … the person who helps someone open a door, the one who holds the elevator door, the individual who picks up a piece of paper on the sidewalk as he or she walks by … the dad who each day at 5:30 in the morning helps his son hone his basketball skills at the local fitness center.
Admittedly, I’m a fitness nut normally to be seen each morning at 5:30 AM for my daily workout. For the past five or six years I have seen a father/son combo practicing basketball at my gym. I have literally watched this young man grow from a thin eleven or twelve year old into a handsome, muscular teen. I have marveled at the consistent, to me monotonous, regimen of this twosome. Shot after shot from every position on the clock and every distance, from dribble and shoot to dribble and shoot with dad defending. Shooting with the left then the right hand and then, left/right, left/right all over again. Today dad had his son seated in a stacking chair … once again shooting shot after shot after shot, changing position and shooting shot after shot again.
I don’t know their names or if the young man is now a top notch basketball player on a team or not. One thing I do know is that he is learning life lessons … lessons about determination, about discipline to accomplish what he wants and about the importance of having someone who cares to be there with you as a mentor, a teacher, a coach … and as a FATHER.
I cannot imagine a more perfect choice for Local Hero then this Father/Son Basketball duo.
Oh … by the way, He did make the shot !!!
The lead up was pretty familiar. There were the Christmas Lights and decorations which I always love and hate to see come down. There were the shopping sprees … sometimes fun and sometimes stressful and, then of course, the monumental task – for some – of wrapping all those many gifts. There was the rush to Christmas Mass, the delicious home cooked meals, the countless photos, gift exchanges and meaningful pauses to remember family members no longer physically present. Without a doubt, this first Christmas without Mom … Ellen Dailey … was different to say the least. The true power of family was ever present and the definition of “Family Unit or Unity” was never more manifest than this year.
Jim Dailey 
