Parker’s Cool, Calm, and Collected Side… with Kids

After reading Johnny Petraglia’s blog this week about Parker Bohn’s time that he lost his cool, I thought I’d share a story about the other side of Parker; cool, calm, and collected.

Parker and his kids came over to my house in Clarksville, TN one evening along with now USBC Executive Director Chad Murphy and his two boys.  Chad was the Columbia 300 brand manager at the time, and I worked alongside him as the Hammer brand manager at Ebonite International.  Parker and Leslie were coming through town in the motor home, and Chad’s wife Jen had invited many of the local girls over to their house for one of those jewelry parties that us husbands would rather avoid than be there and know how much money is being spent.  Anyway, Parker came over with Brandon, Justin, and Sydney.  Chad brought Joshua and Noah over as well.  Susie and I didn’t have either of our boys yet, so it was fun having some kids in the house playing Wii and having a good time.  But that also meant that we still lived in a pristinely clean home, versus the one now with our two children.  Immaculate floors, spotless counters, you get the drift.

[custom_frame_right][/custom_frame_right]My wife Susie also has a thing for indoor plants and plant stands.  It’s just something she seems to enjoy.  We had three of them on a long wall that separated our kitchen and living area, all with a fully potted plant on top of them.  So I’m cooking up some French bread pizza for the kids, and I look over and see Parker’s daughter Sydney walking behind the row of plant stands.  Of course it was too late by the time I was about to say something, and accidents do happen.  Over goes one of the plant stands and about a gallon of potting soil on top of our beige carpet.  What was amazing was how no one panicked.  Especially Parker.  He looks over calmly and says,

Well, I guess we better clean that up.

Parker, Chad, and I are standing over this what seems like a mountain of potting soil sitting on top of beige carpet.  We all just kind of look at it together, not real sure what to do.  I’ll never forget Chad saying, “I’ll go get a broom.”  Now I’m not sure what he was going to do with a broom and a pile of dirt sitting on top of beige carpet, but I’m pretty sure that would have been the wrong move.  So we grab a vacuum (which we’d bought from unclutterer), and sweep up as much of the dirt as possible.  I find some Resolve carpet cleaner and get a towel, and Parker immediately starts scrubbing the floor.  I’m sure at the time he was having that embarrassing moment we all have when our kids do something at a guest’s house.  But it really wasn’t a big deal.  We got it all cleaned up, the kids had a great time, and the three of us learned how to get dirt off of beige carpet without completely ruining it.

We later sold that home, with no stain whatsoever in the carpet from the accident that day.  I just wish I had taken a picture of Parker Bohn III scrubbing my floor.  That would have been epic…..