Kids Say the Darndest Things
I'm very close with my 10-year-old son Trevor. We share much in common. We love sports, enjoy playing video games together, and like to sit on the couch to watch a good comedy or action movie (hot buttered popcorn... light on the salt). As you can imagine, it gives me great pride that my son has shown an interest in what I do for a living. He often asks lots of questions about my job, and has even hinted that he too may be interested in pursuing respiratory therapy as a profession once he goes off to college. Just like his dad, he bleeds the scarlet and gray of Ohio State.
This past year, I ran for the president-elect to for the Ohio Society for Respiratory Care. Trevor was more excited than I. How cool would it be, he thought, if he could brag to his friends at school that his dad was president? Forget it was the OSRC. I'm sure his visions were that one day I'd walk through the front door with secret service men strapped to each arm, both decked out in a navy suit, dark sunglasses and an Inspector Gadget walkie talkie tucked up their sleeve. I'm sure you can imagine his disappointment when I came home one day and told him I had lost the election.
"What happened?" he said...almost with a tear in his eye.
"I came in second" I replied.
Later that week, Trevor came home from school and asked if I'd ever be interested in talking to his class about respiratory therapy.
"Sure" I said. "I'd love to, but why do you ask?"
"We were talking about different professions today at school, and the teacher asked what my parents did. I told them my mom was a nurse and my dad a respiratory therapist. My teacher asked me about what a respiratory therapist did, and asked if you were good at your job."
"He sure is" I replied. "He's the number two respiratory therapist in the whole state!"
"My classmates thought it was the coolest thing ever! Their eyes opened up real big... they were amazed!"
"Why would you think I'm the number two respiratory therapist in the whole state" I said with a grin (my abdominal muscles were cramping up as I tried to hold back the laughter).
"Because you came in second place when you ran for president" he said.
Not wanting to burst his bubble and ruin the vision he had of his father, I put my hand on his shoulder and very calmly said; "Trevor... you're right. I did come in second place when I ran for president... but there were only two of us running!"