We were a boating family. My childhood weekends, nestled between Memorial Day and Labor Day, were spent on our family’s 1972 Starcraft Holiday boat. With avocado-colored seats and a size perfect for fishing, tubing and riding, we had so many boating adventures on the Mississippi River and beaches in the tri-state area of Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois.
Along with the fun memories, we often met unexpected challenges that forced us to modified our plans for the day.
The unexpected storm rolled in.
The mechanics of the boat were on the fritz.
The beach restaurant was closed.
The dog got sick.
The beach had wayyyy too many mosquitoes.
The friend I brought fell off the dock.
The water soaked the graham crackers we were going to use for s’mores.
We forgot the marshmallows for the s’mores.
The tube ripped.
…I could go on.
While any of the above events could have been devastating, it was within the obstacles we faced where we created some amusing memories.
Such can be the experience in our life. The unplanned moments allow for opportunities for creativity, growth, a revised perspective, and a pivot in our next best plan of action.
I am grateful for my upbringing and my parents’ encouragement with this. As our family learned with our boating excursions, just because something does not go exactly as we had planned, it does not mean we need to turn around and end the voyage. We just may need to take an itty-bitty time out to reassess our next best choice/thought/action to craft a new star alignment on our Starcraft.
I am also grateful for you taking a moment out to share this/your reflections on social media. Sometimes just a little encouragement is all one needs to reassess and re-align.
My wise and magnificent mother has taught me so much, beyond our boating excursions.
I tried to sum up some of her pearls of wisdom here:
It’s not quite the river, but there are rocks and some water to enjoy:
