Man draws out racetrack on driveway for 4-year-old neighbor to enjoy on bike
Not long ago, Dave Palazzolo of Salt Lake City, Utah, got one of those smart security cameras, and almost immediately it captured a "trespasser" on his driveway.
"You get the alert and you kind of have an immediate sense of anxiety – 'oh, someone's going to do harm to me,'" said Palazzolo.
That "imminent threat" was a 4-year-old on a balance bike – every night – like clockwork.
"Ping, 'person at driveway.' And you're like, 'Argh! You're interrupting my Netflix!'" said Palazzolo.
Palazzolo said he is 50 years old.
"You're a little young to be doing the whole get-off-my-lawn thing," CBS News told Palazzolo, to which he laughed and responded, "I know, right?"
But he said something had to be done. So under the cover of darkness, he went out on his driveway and wrote a message to the boy that basically said "Kid, you win.'"
The next day, this scene unfolded. "You can almost see the look on his face when he gets it, and then he just charges into it," said Palazzolo.
That was in June, and from that day to this, Palazzolo's driveway racetrack has remained. Whenever weather washes it away, he simply draws another. He even built a contraption to keep the lines straight and now researches famous racecourses for track authenticity. The guy really is serious about his sidewalk chalk.
"There's a chance you're more into this now than he is," CBS News told Palazzolo.
"It's entirely possible," he responded.
Actually, let's call it a draw.
The 4-year-old, named Quinn, is discovering Palazzolo's latest creation. Before the security camera went off that first time, Palazzolo had never met Quinn or his family. Yet all summer he has been helping to raise the boy – in this small way.
"It's been amazing," said Quinn's dad, Josh. "Just that we can be a part of something like that – that we can see the good side of humanity. It feels good."
There are a lot of great dads out there. But the true measure of a man is not how he raises his own kids – it's how he raises the village.
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