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Hey Dad,

It's my son's birthday today (Ike, age 7): an RV birthday, which isn't nearly as fun as a home birthday. But I'm up for the challenge. I am determined to go the extra mile to make my son's birthday great. Already, Ike and I walked from our convenient Wal-Mart parking lot hotel to a McDonald's that was less than 30 yards away.

It was his idea, along with the request that he get his own cinnamon roll. When we returned, he opened the door to a chorus of "Happy Birthday" and an RV filled with balloons, streamers, and a big birthday banner. We're off to a good start, and it isn't even 8:15 A.M. yet.

The rest of the day is his. We're going to a Bass Pro Shop, a big cave, and hopefully stop at a hotel to see if we can use their swimming pool. Plus he'll open his gifts along the way.

It will be a lot of fun for him, but a lot of work, effort, and money for us. It would be easier to go about our day as normal and then have cake and presents at dinnertime, but I'm committed to going THE EXTRA MILE.

That's what separates dads from normal people.

Take my friend Pete, from Long Island, for example. While on vacation this past fall, he was determined to take his family to collect water from each of the great lakes. Now it wasn't too hard, because they happened to travel near the lakes. But for a bottle of water from the last lake, he had to travel a couple hundred miles out of his way. That's THE EXTRA MILE.

Actually, it was his example that encouraged me to drive the 150 miles out of our way to go to Walnut Grove, Minnesota (home of the Little House on the Prairie). Sure, it was a rinky-dink museum with a rinky-dink campground. But hey, I was going THE EXTRA MILE.

That's the kind of dad I want to be. I want to celebrate birthdays in a big way, drive miles out of the way to experience America, stop the ice cream truck on a busy summer night, take a bike ride TWO nights in a row, and take the time to dump some Mentos in a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke.

I want to be an EXTRA MILE kind of dad. And I want to encourage you to be that kind of dad, too. After all …

You 'da dad,

© 2006 Todd Wilson. Used by permission.

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