All the riches in the world

Hello! By the time you read this hopefully I'll have placed the new title I'm working on for the blog at the top of the page. Since it's The Todd Pad, I'm trying to come up with something related to Mr. Toad's adventure/wild ride. My dad is the original, or O.G., Mr. Todd and now I am Mr. Todd the second. In fact, one of my father's students recently transfered to Fontana Middle School and he has my class for Language Arts so he's now had both Mr. Todds! The first day he sat there dumbfounded staring at me.

Anyhow, the real reason for this post is to relate a sublime experience I had this week. On Tuesday morning I intercepted Carter as he made his way toward our room in order to allow Sarah to sleep for a few more minutes. I turned on the Disney channel and went back into the bathroom to finish getting read for work. When I came out, I passed Carter on my way to the kitchen and, for some reason, I turned around and looked at him. He looked beautiful sitting there with the light from the television dancing in his bright eyes. I said, "Carter Todd," he looked up a bit surprised and with a slight look of concern since his full name is often used when he's being disobedient, "you're a good son. You are a good boy!" He looked up at me and a big smile broke out on his face.

"I love you daddy!" he replied in booming voice. I smiled and told him the same. As I turned back and walked toward the kitchen I glanced outside and it hit me that no amount of money in the world can buy what I, and many of you, have in our homes: genuine love. As the perpetual rat race goes on, it's vital to have moments like that one to put everything into perspective.

I am so grateful and cognizant of the importance of families. Although not everyone has a traditional, nuclear family, we can all have a family of some sort. Indeed, we are all one great family. I wish all of you happiness and peace...and moments like the one I described.

*AMENDMENT:
I created the "beta" title for the blog. As you can see, I have abandoned the "Mr. Toad" idea. Instead I tried to work in images of foxes since the name Todd is of Scottish origins and means "sly or foxlike." The colors don't go with the blog exactly, but it was fun and makes the blog more unique. I'd eventually like to recreate the blog from the ground up, but that might have to wait until I can dedicate a significant amount of time.