My son has always had a knack for jokes that almost no one else would catch. One year when he signed up for 4-H he marked Eskimo as his ethnicity. He regularly told other kids on the bus that his name was something other than James. He kept up that one for at least 6 months. No telling what tales he told his teachers to get out of work.
At some point, my son’s hair started curling. During his later years in elementary school, my wife was working at the school. Some of the black boys were talking to her and one of them asked about her son. Another boy in the group asked who her son is and the first kid said, “He goes to school here! You know, the white boy with the afro!”
One of the joys of being a parent of my son has always been the anticipation of the pictures from school. The picture above is a good representation. He has a mischievous look on his face that captures his spirit. Over the years, we were entertained by each package of photos from school. I have selected some of the more entertaining ones to share here.
Several years ago, my wife started a tradition of giving me a gift for every day of my birth month. I keep a list of these gifts and usually share them here. Here is the list from this year with some explanations included for some items.
My wife called me at work to tell me that our son James had been kicked off the bus. This was when he was in intermediate school. She said it wasn’t as bad as what it sounded. She said that when the principal called her, he said that James didn’t need to be in trouble. He said that the only reason James was being kicked off the bus for a week was because of a zero-tolerance policy for fighting. Here is the story that we got from the principal and James.
My family went to church with the family of one of my best friends from college. My friend Hugh has a son, Ethan, that is the same age as my son James. When Ethan was about 6 years old, he invited James to his birthday party. The party had a dinosaur theme because Ethan was fascinated with them. They had invited about 10 boys to the party. Ethan was the only kid that James knew at the party other than Ethan’s little brother, Eric. I stayed at the party to hang out, help out, and to make sure James was OK since he was a shy young man.
When my oldest daughter as born, there were a lot of things that didn’t have to be put away because she didn’t get into things you didn’t want her to bother. I had a lot of music CDs that were kept on the bottom shelf of the entertainment center in our living room that she never touched. All of that changed when my son was born. The CDs were moved and a lot more childproofing was required at the Wheeler house.
On February 28, 1983, one of the greatest television series came to an end. M*A*S*H had become one of the biggest comedy series ever. The last episode was a big deal. I was in college at the time and the last episode of a show like this was a good excuse for fraternities to have parties. Every fraternity on our campus would have a M*A*S*H themed party and mine was no exception. Everyone wore military or medical themed outfits. The administration of our Methodist Church affiliated school was well aware that everyone would be having parties that night so they would be on patrol for potential infractions of the no-alcohol on campus policy. The fraternity houses were owned by the school, so we expected the visit that the Deans made early that night.
I went to school with a quiet guy named David. David was a quiet guy that I never got to know that well. He was just someone that was there. He didn’t seem to have many friends. And he wasn’t involved in many activities. He seemed to be of average intelligence. Not too smart, not too dumb. He was not a class clown. He never did anything much to draw attention to himself. Until our senior year when he decided to start preaching in the halls.
Back in early February of 1978, I was a sophomore in high school. I saw an article in the local paper that said The Gong Show was going to do a Roadshow version of their show in Jackson, TN on February 11. The auditions for the show would be held at the Holiday Inn in Jackson on the 4th and 5th. I was a big fan of The Gong Show ever since it started airing in 1976. I decided to take a chance and audition.