Publisher's Synopsis
STUBS: A Father%u2019s Tickets to the Greatest Shows on Earth%u2026Over the course of almost twenty years a boxful of ticket stubs accumulates and becomes the basis for this guided tour through the evolution of a father and a family. Simple mementoes kept in lieu of endless camcorder footage made a sturdy framework for the reconstruction of the relationships between a father and his children. Here he traces his own advancement from inveterate sports fan to reflective patron of the arts. Besides swimming against the current of his own life, the author also builds a case against the popular parental culture of his generation with its emphasis on vicarious achievement and official recognition. STUBS explores how much kids have to teach and how much their folks sometimes have to learn. The chronological dot-to-dot of vignettes ranging from little league to choir recitals at Carnegie Hall is interspersed with commentary from the perspective of a father looking back over the courses of his three teenagers%u2019 lives. There are also peeks ahead into their futures. What emerges is a heartfelt realization that parenting is neither art nor science; it is simply and literally an exercise in lovemaking. This gently chiding book challenges readers to put down their cameras long enough to consider what really matters in their scrapbooks.
