Member-only story
Life Lessons
Building a Food Truck, Together
A father and son adventure
My wife and I each had two kids when we remarried. Two boys and two girls. Three years later, when Michael came along — surprise. He grew up to fend for himself. He was both sought after and shunned by his siblings, depending on the moment. After dinner, he was favored by the boys as a means of escaping dinner clean-up. One of the chores was to watch Michael. For the older boys, watching Michael meant uproarious indoor soccer and outdoor Whiffle-Ball games. For the girls, it meant trying to corral his endless energy. Stacie favored dish-duty over keeping Michael out of mischief.
Michael was a diligent student almost through high school. Basketball and volleyball kept him organized and absorbed most of his energy, but he was mentally done with school by his senior year. Two guitar classes, English and a history class were the capstone achievements of his senior year. College prep, he was not.
He took a part-time job at a local Italian restaurant, where he picked up some culinary skills and a love of cooking. He makes a mean pizza, but he was otherwise totally lacking in direction. He was content to live in our detached apartment, work, and play his guitar. We were in no rush to see him leave. He was the sole fledgling left at home.