what has your dad done for you?

so the big event of the last week was registering Davian and Nathaniel for school. UGH! I don't think we filled out so many forms since we joined Wycliffe. the biggest hurdle was proving residency. because we are living with my parents we have no lease agreement, no utilities nor do we get a paycheck. so i went in armed with anything that i could get to help prove we were in fact residents of north olmsted. everything was going smoothly until the ladies on the other side of the desk asked for the proofs. i felt i should preface this part of the registration process with well, this is going to get a bit complicated... surprisingly it went ok - i was only missing one thing - my father's driver's license. i sort of grimaced and then the following conversation ensued

lady 1 - well, who is your father? if he has lived in north olmsted for a long time than maybe we know him.
me: ummmm...(long drawn out pause) side note: i know this seems like an easy question. one that i should not have to pause to answer. but my father was a policeman for the last 30 some years so i always have to brace myself for a possible negative response. i never know if the person knows my father because he arrested his or her grandma or because he was the guy who found the 2yo who wandered into the woods alone. uuuuuhhhhhh.........charles jandecka? and then a raised eyebrow as i await the response
lady 1 and 2 in unison: ooooooohhhhh noooooo!
lady 2: he wrote my son a ticket several years ago.
lady 1: yeah, and he wrote my husband for an illegal right on red.
me: so i guess you know who he is.
lady 2: oh yeah, honey, we know he is a resident - lives over on dover rd, right?
me: maybe i should come back on monday
lady 1: oh no, your kids can go to the school. it's ok. you can't help who your father is

once again my father's reputation proceeded me. our family is so accustomed to this that we laugh every time something like this happens. in this instance it actually helped me out. and its not the first time its been helpful. however, we jandecka children were heavily warned not to use our father's name to get out of trouble. i wonder if i was the only one of the 3 kids to get this warning, hmmmm. although i never flat out said to any police officers, do you know who i am? my father is charles jandecka! i could not lie when asked what my last name was.

i remember one day quite clearly. end of the school year. one of the 25 beautiful days in cleveland. me and my girlfriend cruising home from school. me behind the wheel and her hanging out the car window pretending she could fly. then the whirl of the squad car siren.

i remember thinking of how clever i was to be my dad's daughter and get out of a ticket. and i remember thinking the likelihood of him finding out about the escapade was next to nothing. after all, what were the chances of one of my dad's buddies mentioning to him over a donut that he pulled over a couple girls soaring like eagles down root road?

im chuckling now just thinking of it but i will chuckle more if my dad reads this and discovers something new about his eldest daughter.

i hope my name does good things for my babies.