A few days ago, I was sitting near the water bank of the Gulf of Mexico (in Florida
There were some men fishing at the pier nearby and one of them jumped in the water. I thought he was crazy! I thought to myself, “Dude, there’s a gator in that water!” I then saw something had fallen in the water and begun to float away and he jumped in to get it. I’m not sure that I could have been so brave to jump to get something that I had dropped in the water, especially knowing the danger that could be lurking below.
For the most part, I have an adventurous spirit. I love checking out new things, however the longer I live, I find that I’m becoming a bit cautious. I wonder “what kind of danger is in this?” Now, when I was a kid, I don’t think that question was anywhere in my frame of mind. I was a curious, mischievous, bull in the china shop type of girl. No doubt, I got myself in my share of mishaps and didn’t even consider consequences.
My mind immediately flocks to the time I was 4 and wanted to see if my sneaker could swim. I was outside playing and my mom went in the house for a minute. It was then I believed I had found my golden opportunity to test this notion. I lived on a farm and there was a huge, old bathtub in the field that filled with water from the spring so the animals could drink out of it. I thought that would perfect place to see if my sneaker could swim. I climbed down over the bank, snuck under the wire in the fence and got to the big ol’ bathtub. I took my sneaker off and threw it in. It floated until it filled up with water and started to sink. Panic arose and I knew I needed to get the sneaker out before my mom came back outside. In my effort to grab my sneaker, I fell in the tub. Soaking wet, with sneaker in hand, I climbed up over the bank only to find my mom standing there. Of course her question was “What are you doing?” My obvious answer “I just wanted to see if my sneaker could swim.” How could she possibly get mad at that? Never once did I consider that I was 4 and was going into a field where animals were grazing. I just wanted to see if my sneaker could swim. I’m not sure what my punishment was that day; I most likely had some sort of “time out”.
I remember another time when my curiosity got the best of me and in one sticky situation. I was in either 1st or 2nd grade. My whole class went to the nurse’s office to get our eyes and ears checked or something like that. We all sat on the floor until it was our turn came then we got to sit on this wooden chair with spokes in the back. I ended up being the last one to get checked and all my classmates had been dismissed to go to lunch. I was sitting in the chair and thought to myself “I wonder if I could get my elbows between the spokes in the back of this chair.” That thought wasn’t enough; I had to actually try it out. Success! My elbows fit! My celebration of success in my head was soon replaced with panic, as I could not get them out!! I was stuck. The thought then came to me “Don’t squirm and the nurse will never know you’re stuck.” So I didn’t squirm and she didn’t know I was stuck. The nurse was done with my check up and said “okay you’re all done. You can go to lunch now.” I knew then I was in some serious trouble. I started to cry, “I can’t go. I’m stuck.” She was a sweet nurse and tried everything to help me get my elbows out of the chair. Nothing worked! She ended up having to call the janitor to bring his chainsaw to cut me out. With a pillow placed on my head, the nurse held my hand and tried to comfort me while I cried and I prayed “God, please don’t let the janitor cut my elbows off.” Finally I was freed from the chair and the sweet nurse looked at me and said “Now, let’s not try that ever again.” With a sniffle, I nodded. Then I took my Strawberry Shortcake lunchbox and headed for lunch only to find out that I had missed my lunchtime. Embarrassed and still teary-eyed, I ate my lunch without my classmates, only to tell my woes to the lunch lady. That in itself was sufficient punishment.
So why do we do such silly and careless acts without thinking of consequences? For me it was just plain curiosity and wanting to test some theories, which failed miserably. For the guy in the gator infested waters, it was just to retrieve his belongings. I’m sure life will be full of things like these, which may cause us to scratch our heads and wonder why on earth we just did that. We can always learn from our mishaps – sneakers don’t swim, elbows will get stuck in the back of a wooden chair, and look for gators in the water before jumping in. These mishaps can be used to shape and mold us and quite honestly, can make for some interesting and funny stories.
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