My son stomped into my bedroom the other night, dropped himself on my bed and demanded, “What have you been writing about me?”

I looked at him innocently and replied, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

It seems that a few kind, well-meaning adults who I have the utmost respect for, sat him down that evening after an activity to make sure he wasn’t emotionally suffering because his mother was airing family issues in the CoolBlue News and embarrassing him.

“I told them I don’t read your articles,” he said, “and they told me I should and that they’d be there for me if I needed somebody to talk to and support me.  So, what did you say to embarrass me?”

“Embarrass you?” I thought to myself.  If anybody’s been embarrassed over the past 14 years, it’s been me.

In truth, it comes back to perspective.  As politician Tom Price once said, “One person’s embarrassment is another person’s accountability.”

At Innovation Park, we recognize everyone makes mistakes.  We’ve all experienced the arguments, bad actions, poor decisions, broken promises, and “what were you thinking!” moments in life.  At some point, we’ve all committed them.  It happens in our homes, in our schools, at our jobs, on the field, and in the gym.

In order for us to grow as individuals, families and communities, however, we need to be able to examine our mistakes, address them honestly, learn from them and perhaps, if we’re lucky, even laugh at them.  Granting forgivingness to ourselves and to others is one of life’s greatest gifts.

I couldn’t remember everything I’d ever written about my sons, so I opened my computer and began pulling up articles for him to read.  As he read the first one, he laughed and said, “I remember that. It was really funny.”

For the next twenty minutes we read, laughed and talked about all the silly, crazy, maddening, and yes, embarrassing things that have happened in our family.

“So what do you think?” I asked him. “Tell me honestly, did I say anything that embarrassed you?  Do you want me to stop writing about you?”

“Nah,” he said, “That’s just normal stuff and, mostly, it’s funny, not embarrassing.”  Then, as he walked away, he turned, looked me straight in the eye and warned me, “Just don’t ever write about the time my sister kicked me in the ####s. That would be embarrassing.”

You got it, dude.  Your secrets are always safe with me.