Tom is a 25+ year resident of Germantown and the surrounding community. He currently lives in Hubertus with his wife and two small kids on a hobby farm near Bark Lake. Tom's blog will likely not save the world, but hopefully, you'll get some enjoyment from his ramblings.
Don’t you hate it when you have big expectations for something, and then it doesn’t live up to them? Whether this be an event, a party, a gift you’re giving, a holiday, or whatever. Just something you had perceived of going one way, and then it goes completely opposite of what you had planned. For anyone that’s raised children, we’ve all learned not to set ourselves up for disappointment when it comes to expectations centered on them.
Take my family’s trip this past weekend to the Family Kite Festival down at Veteran’s Park on Lake Michigan. My wife and I had planned the entire day out, complete with kites, picnic supplies and various other surprises for our kids. We thought for sure the kids would love seeing the lakefront, all the people, the kites, and the various other things such a festival has to offer. But when we got there, one major element for flying kites was missing. Yep, that’s right, there was no wind. We tried to keep our kids interested in their kites, but this involved constant running. After watching my wife and 4 year-old daughter run off into the horizon and disappear with their pink, smiley-face kite in tow, I actually thought I might never see them again. But, they came back some 15 minutes later, kite string tangled everywhere, my daughter crying, and my wife with a look of frustration on her face I cannot even begin to describe. About the same time, my 3 year-old son lost all interest in his kite, and started whining about wanting to “go home” and was truly testing my nerves. Now mind you, we had only been at the festival for 20 minutes at this point. Gee, what fun we were having already! All this whining certainly wasn’t part of the plan!
So, we switched to Plan B and laid down a blanket and started to have a picnic. Fortunately, the kids really enjoyed this. After eating some food and enjoying some drinks, we made up a game called “Wiener Wraps”, which involved rolling each other up in the blanket we had brought. We played this for what seemed like forever, and the kids would have played it all day and night if we had let them. Such a silly little game, done with nothing but an old blanket, but the kids thought it was the greatest thing ever. I guess it was sort of like when you’re all excited about the big toy you give a kid for his or her birthday, and then they spend the entire afternoon playing with the box it came in.
So anyway, I guess kids have a way of keeping us humble, and they remind us not to set our expectations too high for things. They make us realize that joy can be found anywhere in life, and it doesn’t have to be something big, elaborate and planned out to make it memorable and fun.
G’Night G’Town!
Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything. ~Giacomo Leopardi
