“Sometimes you have to overcome an emotional hiccup to get stuff done.”

Well, after over a year of nothing from Coach Kevin, something needed to be said.

Let’s roll! My wife and I did not have kids right away once we got married. It was 10 years after the honeymoon before we were surprised by the pregnancy. Uh, what?!! The coach is going to be responsible for raising another human being? WTH?!

After initial jubilation, the hard truth set in that Coach Kevin and his awesome wife were going to have to figure out how to raise children. In my straight forward logical thinking I had figured that the Marine Corps had brain washed me appropriately, so why don’t I use some of the things the Marine Corps taught me and employ that as my parenting guideline. Seems legit.

Fast forward about 4 years after the birth of our first and by this time, as a parent who has done everything for their child to get them ready and out the door for whatever event you are participating in, you understand the burden. As I am sure other parents can relate, there seems to always be some catastrophe 30 seconds prior to you getting in the car where there is a monumental meltdown. Now, as a former Marine my empathy is fairly low and as the Abbey clan can attest, being late is not an option. With all of this, one mid-week mid-morning day we were preparing to leave so that we could be on time (meaning 15 min early) for some kid activity. On cue we can not find that one specific toy, blanket, juice cup etc, where if this is not found, the earth stops spinning, so here come the water works. Since death was NOT involved, it was not an event to keep us Abbeys from being on-time, so with a thimble full of empathy I state, “WALK AND CRY, WALK AND CRY”, and continued to usher the kids out the door. Meaning, I was good with you crying but this did not prohibit your legs from working and climbing into your car seat, buckling in, so we could get on our way.

Smiling and laughing a bit looking back on this, through an additional 2 pregnancies and an additional 2 beautiful births, “WALK AND CRY” became a battle cry when we were working to get all of the little feet, little hands, little minds, and all of the emotions and behaviors of 3 toddlers and 2 adults (okay, 1 adult and 1 large child) out the door. We even had the oldest driving the younger two with this battle cry. One day, it was just one of the newest younglings having a meltdown individually and the oldest turns with the energy, confidence of knowing what needed to be done, and empathy of a senior Drill Instructor states, “WALK AND CRY, MAIZY!! WALK AND CRY!!” I struggle to find another moment in my kid’s life where I was more proud.

Nice story, Grandpa!! So, what? Well, back then I never articulated what WALK AND CRY meant. Thinking about it over the years, and now that I am putting it down on “paper”, here is the Coach Kevin explanation.

Sometimes you have to overcome an emotional hiccup to get stuff done. Be emotional, fine, but keep grinding towards your target/mission. Emotions are normally reactive and when they subside, if you kept “walking while you were crying” you will already be on the road to your goal instead of just starting, which is where you would be if you had to wait to get started until after you got over that emotional bump.

If you ever have the pleasure of running in to an Abbey, tell them to “WALK AND CRY”. They will immediately understand and will repeat it back to you, “WALK AND CRY!!”

Until next time, go listen to Motley Crue’s “Shout at the Devil” as loud as you can stand it and “WALK AND CRY”. Coach Kevin Said it.