Andrew Michael Dreith has provided me with some of my life's best moments...and a few I'd like to forget. He is charming and motivated. This week he passed a pivotal test in his career with a major St. Louis company. It appears his future is certain. I like to recall his past.
Andy was a precocious child. One moment I will never forget was when his kindergarten teacher told me he should be held back. I did an incredibly stupid thing. I took him out to the garage, lifted him up on the workbench and told him he needed to straighten up and stop jacking around in class. He was only five. It wasn't his fault that he wasn't mature enough to channel his energies. I am ashamed of that episode because it wasn't about Andy...I have come to realize it was really about me. I didn't want my oldest to do anything but succeed. He got held back and we all survived it.
Next I vividly remember his first athletic event. Soccer. And he stood out on the field like he was lost. Once again my pride got in the way and I ranted and raved about how he needed to pay attention to the game. He loved money so I decided to bribe him.
"Every time you touch the ball with your foot I'll give you a dime," I offered.
At halftime of the next game I noticed that my bribery was working. I told him at halftime---"Great game, son." He said, "You owe me fifty cents."
In high school he persevered to become a very good football receiver. My nickname in high school was "Cold Gravy" because I couldn't run. They called Andy "frozen gravy." But he was clearly the best football player of Dreiths....and brought pride to all of us.
In basketball he did not possess the same talent. But he carved out a name for himself. He took more charges than any player I have ever seen. That means he put his body on the line to take punishment while playing defense in order to draw fouls. Couldn't score a lick....but he started every game his senior year and came to play every night.
Most of all, I owe Andy. He was living with me in Fairfield when my marriage to his mother collapsed. He cared for me in my worst times. He made me realize that he and his brothers were my prime focus. I promised myself that they would never be stained by my very public divorce. They were going to get educations and every opportunity to succeed in their lives.
He did not get it right in his first stop on the road to higher education....but....much like his athletic career....he stuck to it to earn a bachelor's degree.
Now he has used his advanced sales skills, his personable demeanor, his dogged determination, to find a management spot with a major company and I couldn't be prouder of him.
He did it on his own and he did it against the odds.
I'm Andy Dreith's Dad. Nothing makes me prouder.
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