It was just a cup of tea.

It was just a cup of tea.  But to my daughter it was what got her to her manifestation.
As i walk through life I just go on and on and on.  I always wonder what my children pick up on as they watch me do what I do.  Do they realize that all I do is out of love and honor?
My wife and I take pride in the fact that we are servants in this life, not slaves.  We give to our children, our friends, and our family as an act of love,  kindness and support.  We try to create a place in our lives that is out of giving and not taking.  Because we give we shall receive.  This is a trait that we are constantly trying to convey to our children.  It is something that you can talk about until you are blue in the face, but until you are seen in action,  that is where the teaching takes place.  Like Pavlov's dog,  you do as your surroundings show.  The act of doing comes directly from the heart not the mouth.  The opposite of what our parents used to say, "Don't do as I do, do as I say." I really that that was such bullshit when I heard it then as much as I think that is bullshit when I hear it now.  No lip service in my house we are "ACTION PARENTS."  (our comic book names).
My  oldest daughter wanted to try out for an upcoming show up in L.A.  So being the family we are, we loaded the family truckster and headed off to "Tinsel Town" for the weekend.  "Everyone gets a turn." as my wife always says, "We all support each other and now its Kanani's turn." 
We stayed in downtown L.A.,  after we checked in we went to dinner.  After dinner as we were walking back to our hotel my youngest daughter was all jacked up, I'm guessing from the energy of the city.  Completely different than that of the sleepy beach town we live in.  She was bouncing off the walls.  She was skipping around and then yelled at the top of her lungs," I love the city.  Look at that building it's pink the building is pink can you believe it?"  We started cracking up, these kids today.

The next morning I got up at the ass crack of dawn, because I am the early guy and hate more than anything to be late.  So I rousted my daughter up at o'dark thirty.  Hopped in a cab headed for the Staples Center taking one step closer to all of our destiny.  On the way I needed coffee, so  we stopped at Starbucks and copped a cup.  I order a black brew like my ladies and ordered her a cup of chamomile tea with honey.  I handed it to her and she thought I was nuts," I can't drink coffee, dad, I'm too young."  I told her this is not coffee ding ding it's tea and it will help you get your voice on this early in the morning.  The tea will warm up her throat and the honey will sooth the vocal cords when she warms up she will be golden. 

We went to audition and waited for about 5 hours.  Eventually my wife and youngest showed up.  It was now her time to shine.  She sang for the judges and she rocked it out.  I on the other hand was a god damn mess I could barley see and breathing was labored at best.  I don't think that a stage dad is in my wheelhouse.  They asked her to send in a video of another song online.

On our way home we were kind of recapping the day and she looked up and said, "Now that is over, I will have zero anxiety trying out for Showstoppers on Monday.  It will be a piece of cake."

A few years ago, we decided as a family to send my daughter to Valley Middle School instead of the one that she was slotted to go to ( Calivera Hills) because Valley had an award winning show choir and a performing glee club.  So she was going to leave all her mates from grade school and go off to a new school where she knew no one.  I thought that was pretty ballsy being how most 11 year old girls are terrified of there own shadow let alone leaving anything remotely familiar and starting all over.

She started sixth grade head high no tears no stress all positive.  I was so very proud of her.  I know people twice her age starting a new job that would make more of a big deal and stress about it and make themselves sick worrying about who, what, where, when, and why all the people in the new office don't like them.  Not my girl, she was on a mission.  That first week she started Ensemble.  That is the back up choir for Viking Singers and Showstoppers, you have to be in 7th and 8th grade to be in those.  But as a sixth grader you have to be in the Ensemble in order try out for Viking Singers and Showstoppers in 7th and 8th grade.

The school year went off with out a hitch.  Straight As and got to be in a few plays and at the winter performance she got a solo.  She was one fo the first sixth graders to ever get a solo, so basically, she had a blast.  That brings us to the end of the year.  She tried out for Viking Singers and Showstoppers.  And of course, she  made it. She was on the moon. You had to slap the smile off her face all summer. 

She started with a dream and never looked back.  She practiced and practiced and practiced on her own regard,  none of us ever asked her to.  This was her journey and she knew it.  We were there the whole way with her supporting her and loving her.  That night on the way to a celebratory dinner.  I stopped to get gas, and when  I got back in to the car my wife and my daughter were all teared up and hugging.  I was dumbfounded what the hell happened, you were just happy now sad.  My wife explained to me that my girl was telling her that the only reason she got into Showstoppers was because of me.. 
"What I did nothing."

It was the cup of tea that I had made her have at the TV audition in L.A. 

The tea to my daughter represented me taking the time to nurture and care for her and her voice.  That is what she saw,  I on the other hand saw nothing.  That was in her head the reason she was where she was.

We walk through our life with our children, our friends, and our family and we really don't realize the impact we have on others until someone lets you in on it.  It was just a cup of tea that I was offering my daughter to help her wake up and start her day.  But to her it was the beginning of something amazing.

When we act out of the goodness from our heart and just move threw life's small obstacles,  take a little time now and then to ask yourself.  Are you embracing life's challenges and moving forward with your head held high?  If not, I ask you to do this:  Reach out and do something nice for someone else.  Start buying those special people in your life a cup of tea.  You will start to move mountains. The simpler the task, the greater the reward.