Parents know what it’s like to drop everything in order to tend to their kids . There’s really no time off from being a parent , so sometimes it’s necessary to go right from work to parenting with no break in between.
An image of a man who went directly from a shift in a coal mine to a basketball game with his son has gone viral for all the right reasons.
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Pikeville, Kentucky is in the heart of coal country.
The city is located in the Appalachian Mountains and much of the industry has relied on coal and natural gas reserves in the area.
The Kentucky Wildcats college basketball team has been holding preseason scrimmages in Pikeville, which kicks off this story.
This dad went directly from a shift in the mine to the scrimmage.
This text message from Pikeville resident Mollie McGuire details how her husband, Mike, took their son Easton to one of the Kentucky basketball scrimmages. Of note was the fact that Mike was still wearing his work clothes at the scrimmage.
The head coach took note.
John Calipari, one of the most accomplished college basketball coaches in history, tweeted this photo of Mike and Easton sitting courtside. As Calipari wrote, the photo resonated with him as his dad was a coal miner at one time.
It’s a fantastic story.
Responses to Calipari’s tweet were almost universally positive, with people noting that this is the kind of thing that transcends sports rivalries. A parent taking time to participate in a shared passion with their kid is truly something special.
By all accounts, Mike McGuire is an exceptionally hard-working man.
As for why he didn’t change out of his mining gear, he said , “It was either go straight [to the game] or miss half the game to go home and take a shower and everything.”
At first, Mike didn’t realize he was a viral star.
After working another shift in the mine — an area where there’s understandably no cellular reception — it wasn’t until he finished up his shift that he realized Coach Calipari had made a tweet about him.
Everyone’s excited.
“When I got out [of the mine] and got [cellular] service on my way home, it went crazy,” he said of his newfound fame. “I couldn’t believe that it was real. [Easton is] jumping up and down. He’s very excited.”
The McGuires got to meet Coach Calipari.
It was obviously a big thrill to meet the legendary coach of their favorite college basketball team, and Mike and Easton were able to do so on the Monday after the tweet went viral.
It’s a tribute to a hard-working parent.
The story strikes a chord for any number of reasons — kids remembering how their parents made sacrifices, or parents who recognize just how much goes into raising a kid. It’s essentially a universal experience.
Mike and Easton will be VIP attendees at a future Wildcats game.
Coach Calipari wants them to attend a UK game this season as VIPs, and it’s a sure bet that Mike and Easton will make the road trip to Lexington in the coming months.
Let us know what you think of this story in the comments.
