From LinkedIn

Dada Said He Would

This was originally posted on my LinkedIn on September 22, 2026.

I saw a clip from the Vikings game Sunday that made me laugh. Isaiah Rodgers recovered a fumble near the goal line and, with an entire stadium watching, started doing the Hot Dog Dance from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Apparently, he had promised his son he would do the dance if he got the chance. So he did.

I probably would have just thought it was funny before I had Keira. Now I look at stuff like that a little differently.

She’s only ten months old, so we’re not exactly negotiating major promises yet. But I’m already realizing how much she pays attention to what we do. She watches everything, she knows when I walk into the room, and somehow this little person who can’t even talk yet already understands a whole lot more than I think she does.

As she gets older, I’m going to make promises to her. Some will be important and some will probably be things that seem completely insignificant to me. I’m also pretty sure at some point I’m going to promise something and later wonder why the heck I agreed to it.

But she’s not going to care about any of that. She’s just going to know Dada said he would.

That’s what stuck with me about the Rodgers video. The guy had just made a huge play in an NFL game and his next thought was apparently that he had told his little boy he would do this ridiculous dance.

I’ve always been pretty big on doing what you say you’re going to do. At work, your word means something. People figure out pretty quickly whether they can count on you.

I guess I’m starting to realize Keira will figure that out about me too.

And if keeping my word to her eventually requires doing the Hot Dog Dance in front of a bunch of people, I guess I better start practicing.

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