“Draw four cards! Ha!” His sweet face lit up with excitement as he threw the UNO card down with intensity.
Sitting to his left, I added another Draw Four card to his, and then his daddy added one too.
“Oh Grandma! You have to pick up TWELVE cards!” He pointed and laughed, obviously enjoying the bit of revenge he was getting for her previous win.
“Oh no, I don’t!” She stuck her tongue out at him and threw down another one.
His daddy and I gasped in unison with him and waited for his reaction. He sat there, stuck in the moment, for almost a minute before the tears brimmed.
“Sixteen cards? I don’t want to play anymore!” He said it, but started to pick up the cards at the same time. He loved this game and the family time that surrounded it, so he took a deep breath and started to count cards into his hand.
About the fifth card in, his face shifted from sadness to glee, and he told us why through some slightly sadistic laughter, “Oh, you guys better watch out. I have only picked up five of the cards, and they are all deadly.” The smile slipped across his face, and we all laughed, grateful to see him finding the opportunity in the challenge.
His dad and I giggled about the funny moment, and how he ended up kicking our butts, before we went to bed that night.
As I drifted off to sleep, I thought about how amazing it was to see him so quickly shift from an upset to an opportunity, and I thought about what a perfect mirror that was for my life.
He was 5 years old at the time, and I was just learning how to dream again. I’d found my message and the value I bring to the world, I’d attracted a Secret Teacher into my life in just 3 months, and it was all magic…until I felt like The Wind made me “draw sixteen on my dreams” again!
How many times have I gotten excited about a dream,
only to watch it die?
How many times will The Wind allow the doors to slam,
before I just say “Screw It” and give up?
And just a few years later, I found myself in the same spot…again. All I could do was shake my fist at the heavens and scream for an answer.
The one that came blew my mind, and made me vow to share it with everyone who crosses my path.
Essentially, I did what my son had done many years before…I found the sacred opportunity, the purpose, in all of those slammed doors.
And it changed my life…FAST!
My girlfriends and I joke frequently about how this crazy upside-down journey never ends, but I know it’s getting better the more I exercise that muscle my son helped me develop all of those years ago: “This isn’t a tragedy. It’s an opportunity. It sucked for a second, but now I have even MORE cards to play to win and achieve my dreams.”
Good stuff for a 5-year-old. Heavens! Can you imagine knowing THIS at that age?!?