Yesterday was quite the day. Work went fairly well, though I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have due to the onset of a rather nasty head cold (it’s been going around the family, and I thought I’d dodged the bullet until yesterday morning). My father came into town on Thursday, and he was able to spend more time with Kristy and the kids yesterday. After work, I met them all at Manny’s, an excellent Mexican restaurant in Onalaska. The food was very good, as expected.

Driving home from Manny’s (Kristy and the kids were in the minivan), some teenagers threw a rock from the highway median and hit my windshield. I whipped around, jumped out of the car, and managed to get one of them to stop (the rest just booked it). He was so sorry it was almost pathetic. I got the idea that he was generally a good kid that had, unfortunately, made a really, really stupid decision. I called the police. As the rock only dinged the windshield (no cracks or anything), I declined pressing charges. The policeman said he’d give the kid a stern talking-to and then call his parents (the worst part of all of it, I’m sure–it would’ve been for me, that’s for sure).

Driving home, I thought about that kid. I rather felt bad for him, because he sort of reminded me of myself–a good kid that just made a dumb choice that came back to bite him. I hope that last night was a learning experience for him and that he won’t do anything like that again (I don’t know what happened with the other kids who ran off).

When I got home and explained it all to Kristy and Brenna (who was headed to bed), I recalled an incident that happened when I was probably about 10 or so. I was at the base of the driveway throwing pine cones into the street. A car passed and (I don’t recall whether or not it was deliberate) a cone hit the car’s side. The car screeched to a stop and pulled into our driveway. The driver spoke with my father, who then spoke (rather sternly) to me. I guess it was a “life-defining” moment for me, because I’ve never done anything like that since.

Oh, and for the record, all of this is true, despite the themed title of the entry.