Tinker toys. Super balls. Silly Putty. Etch-a-Sketch. Lawn Darts.
Childhood memories burn the brightest. 1960’s toys still spark the flames.
This lawn dart photo is obviously a joke but I experienced a similar close call.
I was playing lawn darts with my youngest brother while our middle brother rode the swingset.
In a perfectly choreographed moment, I released the dart at the same moment my brother launched himself from the swing. We both aimed for the ring target.
In slow motion, the dart and his foot arrived at the same place, at the same instant.
Horrified, I watched the dart skewer right through his shoe.
His face contorted, he screamed in pain and hopped one-legged to lean on the closest tree.
As we rushed to his side, his raised foot exposed the point of the dart sticking entirely through the bottom of his shoe. This was going to be gruesome.
He milked it for another ten seconds before his face lit into a smile. The dart had ripped through his shoe but slid between his toes. No injury whatsoever.
The butthead really had us going.
Our best stories involve adversity with a happy ending. Rarely do they both play out in so few seconds.
The yin and the yang. We have to experience pain to fully appreciate pleasure.
Adversity always provides a gift.
A lesson learned. A humorous story. Personal growth. Recalibrated timing or launching course corrections that allow something new or better.
With enough experience and perspective, we eventually start looking for the gift the moment adversity arrives.
So jump in. Put your best foot forward. Stick the landing. It all works out.
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