Jeff’s Dark and Early Blog

Before his days as Pittsburg, Kansas’ friendliest mailman, my dad was in radio.  He even had a talk radio program in the days before talk radio was popular.  I can remember listening to his radio stories as a young boy and thinking that broadcasting might be a cool career to get involved in.

“It’s a good career if you’re single,” Dad told me.  “Not so much if you’re married.”

Well, as was often the case, the son did not heed the father’s advice.  I am married.  Very much so.  And I am still very much in radio.

Fortunately, my wife doesn’t mind playing the role of bread-winner.

But now that I’ve got a young son, I often catch myself wondering if he’ll follow in the footsteps of dad and grand-dad.

If I had to venture a guess, I’d say probably not.

Unlike his old man, Ethan is a quiet kid.  If you watch closely, you can see in his eyes that he’s learning something new every minute.  He doesn’t say anything, but you know.

When I was his age, I was already well on my way to being the family’s self-appointed motor mouth.  I’ve always been the guy who can talk about anything and do it for hours.  That’s why radio fits me.

Ethan is more like his mom in that regard.  Intelligent, reserved, cautious.  So special.

I would never go as far as to venture a guess as to what he’ll be.  The future is wide open, and I stand behind him whatever road he goes down.

If radio is in his future, so be it.  But while his father is the journalist, it’s up to him to write his life, not me.