The day my parents came home with a trampoline......everyone took a turn, even Mom and Dad--which I thought was ridiculous. They were grown-ups after all. Smiles and excited screaming filled the yard.
JUMP!
You know that free-fall sensation when the ground rushes up, your stomach clenches, and adrenaline tenses every muscle. Life is comprised of those moments of decision, those turning points that make you either want to puke, or scream from pure exhilaration. But if we aren't willing to jump, how will we ever know what waits? Will we hit the ground and spring back up, or will we be a pancake?
I tend to be trigger shy. Wasn't always that way. In fact, this development is something that's come about thanks to several pancake experiences. Were they true pancakes? I don't know, but my inflation machine is starting to run out of batteries. (Thus the scientists locked in my Floridian basement are working on a never-ending power supply.) Still, the older I get, the more I realize this life only happens once. So what if we fail? Did we learn something? (Perhaps how NOT to fail next time?)
Happiness results from overcoming the odds.
Walt Disney took CRAZY risk when he put out Snow White. He mortgaged everything--his home, his company, everything. He and his wife held their breath as their world threatened to collapse in and crush them. But the opposite happened. The thriving business that is now Disney bloomed out of that single terror-inducing risk. Can you imagine the world without Disney?
And finally, a quick footnote, I would not remember any of the aforementioned experiences if I'd not had the foresight to record them in a JOURNAL. Yup. That's right. A second "J" word! (Watch out--they'll be popping up all over the place today.)
Have you overcome your odds? What pancake experiences have you survived?
