I received a Facebook request on Wednesday that piqued my interest. We didn’t have any friends in common. I clicked on the profile to see who this person was and why they might be interested. They were a producer at daytime talk show, The Real. The Fox show produced a segment based around an article I wrote; I assumed that the show could have been following up on the piece from earlier this summer.
Fall baseball began Friday evening. My nephew’s team were playing in a tournament that was a fundraiser for veterans. It was the team’s first night game and everyone was excited. About halfway trough the game, the boys on the team noticed that the local news channel was at the venue and were filming to air. The camera pointed towards the dugout and these 10 year olds lit up. Everyone knew to look out on News 12 over the weekend.
On Saturday afternoon, I received a phone call from the producer at The Real, informing me that another one of my articles had become a subject on the show, and it would be airing Monday. I didn’t know what post they conversed about; but it was something to be excited about.
Monday morning, I set my DVR to record The Real; unsure if I would be able to watch the live airing. I was preparing for a phone interview at 1 pm that would change my life. As I prepared, I was getting a little anxious. To calm myself down, I felt as if watching something about me on national television would help.
I had an idea of the flow of the show and knew that my part would air before the first commercial break. At the six minute mark, I heard my name mentioned and internally lit up. In June, they didn’t mention my name; I was just “a writer.” This time, they said “Chad Milner,” and mentioned “his daughter Cydney.”
As Loni Love began quoting my article, the screen went black. I was looking at the screen and thinking “What the hell is going on?!” Fox was interrupting the show for a special news report. New Jersey governor Chris Christie was addressing the people about the bombings that had happened in his state over the weekend. While that was definitely more important than a two year old article about Cydney being the only black kid at soccer (Note: #SoccerDadChronicles Season 4 coming in two weeks). I couldn’t help but laugh. This is the kind of thing that would happen to me. My interview at 1 pm was cancelled because the company couldn’t get in touch with me; stating that my phone went directly to voice-mail (My phone was in my hand the whole time and didn’t ring). I was upset; but I gathered myself and just figured that God had a plan. Minutes later, I was right back to writing on my laptop because there was work to do. Three hours later, I got a text message from one of the mothers from my nephew’s baseball team. She recorded the segment that aired on News 12 about our boys. It was a nine second clip; but they used my nephew! That made my day more than someone talking about me.
That evening, Cyd and my nephew were outside of the house, playing basketball on the hoop I had just put together a few days prior. The rim was lowered to 7.5 and my mother asked Cydney if she could make a shot on that height. My nephew and I both said “Yes, she can.” She missed the first one and made the next two in a row.
I said to my mother “I guess I’m raising two athletes, huh?” While she plays a beyond integral role in making many of the opportunities for the kids; she looked back at me and said “Yeah.”
Single Dadventures 