Above The Line Article:
"Enjoy the Journey
By Erik Carlson
That's right, I closed my event with an experiment I did with Christopher, my 6 year old son. I wanted to play 'hot-cold' with him, and take an object he was extremely interested in, and hide it in a ridiculous place, to see if he would give up.
I took a dollar bill, which he really wanted, and I hid it in a stack of pancakes on a plate on our kitchen counter. I folded it up, and crammed it deep in the syrup-soaked stack, and played the game. I told him I could only say 'you're getting hot, cold, or warm'.
After playing a bit, he finally came to the kitchen… "you're warmer"…He approached the plate… "your HOT!!!" He picked up the plate… "SOOO HOTTTT", He couldn't find the dollar, so he put the plate of pancakes down, and went to a drawer… "You're colder"… "Daddy, is it in the drawer?" "I can only say 'hot or cold', Christopher."
Frustrated, he went back to the plate… "Hottt, SOOO HOTT!!!!" He was getting frustrated, but with that dollar in play, he was NOT about to give up. Finally, I saw his wheels turning in his head. He was thinking "there's no way it's in the pancakes…" "Daddy, is it IN the pancakes?" I couldn't help but smile at him… He DOVE into the pancakes, and began to GUT laugh as he found the buried dollar bill all sticky and icky in the syrupy pancakes.
My message to the full house at the beautiful, historic Vizcaya Mansion last week was this: as you pursue your dreams, be childlike enough that you enjoy the game! Don't quit, or you will miss out. You will miss out on a journey that will have its frustrations, but the gut-laughing joy that comes with such a worthy expedition, will far outweigh the frustrations.
It was wonderful for me to learn from my son. He teaches me lesson's every day. So let's make our dream chase a great adventure…together. |
