Common sense & Life Lessons from Daddy

Daddy always told my older brother to use common sense in every situation. I can't tell you how many times he would sit us down to explain how important it was to
have "common sense". Daddy's definition of "common sense" included listening more & talking less, being a leader instead of a follower, business ethics, street knowledge and of course always being prepared. Being prepared had its own set of rules & guidelines which always ended in a PLAN B.
Looking back, I find humour in the way he would turn our mishaps into life lessons. For example, the summer that my older brother learned it was better to do his chores first and play with his friends later. "Son,do it now and you can relax the rest of the day," he said as he left for work. California summers were always dry & hot so my daddy warned my brother to mow the grass while it was still early & the sweltering sun hadnt yet fully encompassed the day. Being that school was out for the summer, my brother ignored the entire statement and used that opportunity to enjoy his bed. His bed summoned him, he rolled over & went back to sleep. He slept till almost 1pm.
If it had not been for the loud knocks on our door, the pounding of the basketball and his rowdy group of friends who were desparately trying to recite line's from Run DMC's, ever popular rap, "King of Rock" he probaly would have slept all day. But, instead of keeping his friends waiting he quickly got dressed, grabbed his"boom box" with one hand, a handful of wheaties in the other, and left.
I didn't have to ask where they were going to because I already knew. We lived just a few short blocks from our school and just about every child in the neighborhood met there during the summer to take advantage of its playgrounds, teather balls,open space & adult free zone.
He returned home just before my parents did but somehow had completely erased my daddy's orders for the yard. In those days of simplicity and routine, parents came home from work in time to enjoy a family dinner together. We even talked, laughed and teased one another during dinner. For some odd reason, most of my friends & I normaly had dinner around the same time. Occasionally, someone would knock at the door & beg you to hurry up with dinner because the "street lights" would soon come n, "Street lights" were indicators to us that it was time to go inside the house. The penalty in our house for not being indoors by the time the streetlights came on was severe. My brother skipped out the door after supper.
From the dining room window, my daddy watched his carefree son run & play. Now in my opinion, kids played harder than they do today. Staying indoors on a sunndy day was only allowed if you were very ill. My brother, played even harder. By the end of the day he was just simply, exhausted.
Mom told him to shower and come enjoy the while daddy still silenty observed him in disbelief. They both warned me not to remind him of that one little task that he was told to do.
because this was a teachable moment.
At 1am in the morning......I was awakend by the sound of the roaring lawn mower going up and down our yard. I looked out the window and tried my best not to laugh too loud at what I saw. Were my eyes decieving me? I rubbed them for more clarity and discovered that I was seeing correctly. 1am in the morning in the stillness and darkness of that still hot and muggy summer night, I saw my brother mowing the grass. A flashlight in one hand, the mower in the other.