Alex Fees

5 On Your Side's Show Me St. Louis has an opening for an executive producer.

Job Application for Executive Producer, Show Me St. Louis at TEGNA Inc. TEGNA Inc. (NYSE: TGNA) is an innovative media company that serves the greater good of our communities. Across platforms, TEGNA tells empowering stories, conducts impactful investigations and delivers innovative marketing solutions. With 64 television stations in 51 U.S. markets, TEGNA is the larges...

Searching for a new creative director at KSDK 5 On Your Side.
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“Can we get dessert”

It’s a text from Jake, one of our sons.

It’s dark outside, and I am sitting in a Starbuck’s in University City, right across the street from Dewey’s Pizza, where Jake, 14, is having Valentine’s Day dinner with his girlfriend, who is also 14.

I would like to have posted a photo to accompany this story, but that’s apparently out of the question. I don’t even ask, anymore.

This was the deal. I drive them to Dewey’s for dinner, and pay the bill. I brought my laptop to work on a story I began at work today about 5 On Your Side’s partnership with the Susan G. Komen Foundation and their breast cancer research. My social worker wife, Rachel, is on-call and working. Daniel, 12, is home with the dog and cat.

I didn’t mind the “assignment,” so to speak - chaperoning the two of them. The impact Rachel and I can have on these two growing boys is becoming more and more subtle.

The news broke, today, about what happened in Kansas City at the Superbowl celebration parade. So, suddenly, I’m in protective dad mode, in case something “goes down” in a crowded restaurant on Valentine’s Day. I can see Jake and his girlfriend through the window, across the street in booth 52 - I overheard somebody at the hostess station say what number it is.

From this vantage point, I’m certainly not in any position to prevent anything from happening. But I’m seconds away, in case it does. I realize it’s a false sense of security.

I wonder if it has occurred to my 14-year-old that if something happens, they are steps away from an exterior door. I doubt he thinks about things that his soon-to-be-60-year-old former television reporter Dad does, every time I enter any public place.

Exit strategy.

How do we get out of here if something bad happens? When something bad happens?

“Yes,” I respond to the text about dessert. “Peanuts!” I add, reminding him to be cautious and notify his server about his potentially deadly allergy. I neglected to quiz him about whether he has his epi pens with him. Rachel and I dread the day he’s away at college and we can’t fill in these blanks.

The one other customer in Starbuck’s has left and I’ve got the place to myself. I’m sitting with my back to the counter because I’m trying to be inconspicuous. I don’t want to have to buy anything. That’s ironic, coming from the guy who spent 15-20 years of his life spending $4.00 a day on café mocha. Now, I don’t drink coffee unless it’s free. KSDK, fortunately, treats us to Keurig single servings, so I’m spoiled in another way. Besides, it’s too late for caffeine… something else I would’ve never said, 20 years ago.

I am wrapping up my story and pleased with the progress I have made.

Another text.

“Nvm on dessert we’re both full,” he said. “We’re ready btw.”

Part of me celebrates the fact that he spelled dessert correctly, and not like “desert.”

It’s been a good night.