To my Son, Geoffrey.

Fatherhood is the greatest thing one can achieve as a Man, it is also one of the hardest things to endure. 

My Family is everything to me, my Wife, my Children, my extended Family, whether by blood or by shared experience, it is the single most important pillar of my being, my reason for existence in this world. 

My Son Geoffrey is an accomplished Trick Scooterist in his own right, extremely skilled, dedicated to his craft, even going so far as to try new things in the form of Skate Boarding, though he does not enjoy Skate Boarding as much as he enjoys his Scooters. 

Some of the things this young man can pull off boggles my mind and his dedication to this Art is, indeed, not something to be scoffed at. I am truly proud of his achievements in this. 

The mindset it takes to pull off even the simplest of things is on par with any Martial Artist worth their salt. 

I recently had an exchange with Geoffrey that hit harder than any punch to the face I have ever taken. 

There is no Custody Battle, and the years have gone by without incident until recently. He is approaching his eighteenth birthday, so there really is no point in pursuing that, nor would I ever want to take him away from everything he has come to know. 

Someone told him otherwise, and he believed it. 

"The court case," he cited as his issue, "Stop trying to take me, my brother, and my sister away from everything." 

This was in response to my having reached out to him to make sure he was okay after having seen him take a hard hit to the head by concrete attempting to ride a Skateboard on his friend's Youtube Channel.

I explained that I was not trying to take him away, that I was only trying to visit with them all during my allotted visitations in the Parenting Plan and had always returned them.

Some of the other things that came out of his mouth were pretty vulgar, with one racial 'n' bomb dropped that really caused concern as I had never used that term.

The take away from this is that kids will be kids, he knows I am always there for him, no judgment, regardless of what was said or what he chose to do. 

We all face challenges in our lives, the best way to deal with those challenges is to push forward, accept them as they come and allow them to make us into better human beings. 

Also, remember, family is everything, regardless of how said family might feel in the moment, time heals all wounds.