Alissa and Cale arrived back home around 8:30pm from the Directional Dinner on Friday night. I had left a note in Cale’s room before I left for work that morning simply stating, “Pack a bag for the weekend. The Lovett Legacy begins tonight.” He knew we were going somewhere, but was unsure of where.

We took off driving and he kept asking me where we were going. I didn’t answer for a couple of hours. We listened to music, played chess, and chatted about the Directional Dinner he had just finished with Alissa. At about 11pm, I started laying out the vision for The Lovett Legacy. I told him that every teenage boy learns what it means to be a man. The only question is where he learns it from. Some learn from church. Some learn from society (TV, movies, athletes/celebrities). In tougher areas, some learn from older teens in gangs. A few fortunate teens learn from their dad or another father figure.

I explained to Cale that The Lovett Legacy is a 5-year program in which we will have a daily 10-15 bible study, a monthly challenge he will need to accomplish, a monthly badge he will have to earn, and a monthly “Man Time” in which he and I will hang out, eat dinner, and reflect on the month.

I then divulged the plan for the weekend: We were heading to Ponca, AR to do some hiking and swimming in the Buffalo National River (one of our first stops on our first RV trip back in 2020). On Sunday, we would spend the entire day at Silver Dollar City.

We had a great drive filled with good talks, singing to our Swine Week playlist, playing chess, and listening to Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People. We got to our yurt a little after 1:00am. I was exhausted and ready for bed, but Cale wanted to play Farkle and Yahtzee, so we did for a little while before getting to sleep around 2:00am.