The Oxford Dictionary defines a “rite of passage” this way: a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life, especially birth, puberty, marriage, and death.

Wikipedia says: “A rite of passage is a ceremony or ritual of the passage which occurs when an individual leaves one group to enter another. It involves a significant change of status is society.“

Some popular rites of passage include:

• Getting a driver’s liscence
• Completing toilet training
• Getting married
• Retirement
• Getting baptized.
• Graduation

While the rite of passage I am talking about today may not be as big an event as the above mentioned, it means a lot to me. It is one that has been passed down to all the males in my family. My grandfather introduced them to my dad. My dad introduced them to me. I introduced them to my two oldest sons, and now my youngest son.

Thursday night, Andrew was fighting wearing his CPAP. This is a regular occurrence that requires some bargaining by mom or dad to get him to do so. Usually, it means he can watch his tablet for a bit or a short show on TV. (Yes, I am aware of how bad TV and screen time before bed it, but a dad’s gotta do what a dad’s gotta do!) My wife’s suggestion floored me. It made me giddy!

“What if dad puts on the Three Stooges for you?”

Did I truly hear what I think I heard? Yes. Yes, I did.

So my son crawled up into bed with us and I found an episode on Youtube.

He chuckled and laughed out loud through the entire episode. Moe slapping Larry or bonking Curly on the head made him laugh almost uncontrollably. I laughed along with him and the two of us, just like his brother’s before him, bonded over slapstick comedy. When I left for work on Friday, he told me that he can’t wait to watch “the three funny guys” again with me.

My wife posted her own picture on social media with the following caption:

“I guess I didn’t know that the love of The Three Stooges was a genetic thing when I married Keith. Now here I am stuck watching this stupidity as a bribe for Andrew to wear his CPAP machine.”

This is a true rite of passage. I couldn’t be more proud! Atta boy, son! The torch has been passed ….