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Hey, Dad, ‘It’s Your Song’ By Kyle Troutman
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f I am ever listening to the albums “Out of Time” by REM or “Double Live” by Garth Brooks, you can bet one thing — I’m thinking about my father, John Troutman. My father and I spent a lot of time on the road. In my pre-teen and teenage years I played travel soccer, and in the spring and fall, about two weekends per month were dedicated to tournament weekends all across the south-central U.S. From home in Little Rock, we’d hit the road for Fayetteville, Ark.; Fort Smith, Ark.; Tulsa, Okla,; Tyler, Texas; Dallas, Texas; Shreveport, La.; Jackson, Miss.; Memphis, Tenn.; or Joplin, Mo. While many kids might snooze on those 2-hour to 4-hour drives, not me (most of the time anyway). Our time was always spent talking about life or the future or sports or anything to pass the time. And when we weren’t talking, you could bet good money that one of those two albums was cranked up to where you couldn’t even hear yourself sing. My father was a huge influencer in
My father, John Troutman, and me at my wedding in October 2020. my life and one of my heroes. He put a soccer ball at my feet before I could walk, initiating one of the major themes in my life throughout my early 20s. It was through all those years traveling and playing soccer that my dad and I developed a bond unique to just us. At those tournaments, we’d typically spend about 8 hours at the fields on Saturdays and at least another 4 on Sundays. He would watch me play, usually two games on Saturdays, and I would watch him referee about four games, always taking advantage of halftime to get some shots in on the goal. On Sundays, we usually had one game in the morning, and if our team was doing well, a semifinal or championship game later in the day. Then, we’d head home, wash, rinse and repeat. Having a father so active in my life, especially since I had two younger siblings that only came on a few trips here and there, had a profound
impact on me. Before the travel became such a big part of our lives, I had seen my father twice handle infants and toddlers. He was a get-on-the ground-andplay, toss-you-in-the-air, pick-on-youfor-fun kind of dad, and grandpa for that matter. He had a diverse sense of humor, often times involving jump scares. You didn’t go into a room with no lights on without knowing where he was. He was a master at hide and seek, which we played with all lights off and using flashlights or glow sticks. He loved jumping on our trampoline, especially timing his jumps right to send us about 10-15 feet in the air. And, he enjoyed all manner of board games and video games, always playing competitively but never just letting one of us win. He was also a fair disciplinarian. For major mess ups, we had choices of punishment, like swats, excess chores or a time period of grounding. For
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