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Hey Dad,

Whew! I'm bushed. After searching and praying for a larger Familyman Mobile (FM3), we finally purchased one off eBay, and I had to make a quick down trip down to Florida to pick it up and drive it home.

I'm not complaining, because it was a great feeling sitting behind the wheel of our big rig. This new RV (14 years old) is a diesel pusher, 8 feet longer, runs great, and looks great, thanks to a new paint job. But the coolest thing is the air horn.

FM2 had a dinky little horn, but FM3 has a big, honkin' air horn. I'm talking a train/tanker-ship kind of horn. It's awesome! When I was driving down the highway all by myself, I just let her wail! Man, this is going to be a great RV.

When I got home, however, my wife almost burst into tears. She didn't appreciate all the bells and whistles—or the horn. All she could see was the crummy, rough, old, and worn interior. She's such a … woman. But now, two days later, she's caught the RV makeover vision, and we've torn up the inside and are on our way to creating our home on wheels.

But I'm really writing to remind you again about the influence you have in your children's lives, and I'm not talking about all the stuff you try to influence them in. It's not the sit-down kind of lessons they'll learn. It's the very fabric of who you are that is the real influence.

I was reminded of that myself as I came tooling up I-75 just north of Orlando. It was about 7 o'clock at night when my phone rang. It was my son Ben (14).

"Hey Dad," he began without any other greeting, "what time is it?"

After a slight hesitation, we both blurted out, "My FAVORITE time to drive."

He knows me. He knows that's what I always say when I'm behind the wheel of our RV as the sun hangs low in the sky and the air is cooler. A thousand miles separated us, but he knew that's what I was feeling right then. In thirty years, when he's a dad and I'm old, he'll be driving down the road as the sun sinks and think, "This is Dad's favorite time to drive." He'll think about me, our RVing days, and our life on the road.

You know that thought may not seem like much, but it's huge. Our influence is huge. Your influence is huge. Just be there, Dad. Don't worry about whether you're doing enough teaching or training—just be there, modeling what you want them to live.

You 'da dad!

(the horn-honking dad)

© 2007 Todd Wilson. Used by permission.

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