When I was 10 my dad competed in a golf tournament called the Oldsmobile scramble. Over 500 teams competed, only the top 2 teams in the state of WI made it to Nationals. He and his team of 5 guys took 2nd place and won the trip to Orlando, Florida to compete for the National Title. I was FIRED UP for a free trip to Florida. When we arrived, we found out that we would have our own free taxi service wherever we wanted to go in Orlando for the entire trip. They literally treated us like kings. We had parties to attend every night that were family themed, and the best part was we were staying at the Contemporary Hotel. This hotel overlooks the Magic Kingdom and has a monorail that travels to every major park in the area. I was literally on top of the world. I got to bring my friend Alex who played baseball with me for the last couple years, and who was just as much of a curious rebel as I was.
Over the course of our stay, Alex and I created a game we would play whenever we got the opportunity. Being 10 years old it was fun to do things you knew you weren’t supposed to, (I guess things don’t change very much when you grow up either) …and since we were on the 10th floor, it was a pretty awesome view, but it was also a lot of fun to throw things off the balcony. So we had this brilliant idea of getting buckets of ice and having contests to see who could get closer to the objects of choice. Probably not the brightest idea. Around the 5th day of our stay, we were throwing some ice cubes when Alex decided to pick a target in the parking lot. Again.. probably not the brightest idea. Now I just want to say for the record that we had no intention of causing any harm here. After Alex threw, it was my turn. I reached back and let her rip.. I remember it being halfway down and thinking, “uh oh.” Coooooooooosh. It landed dead center on the windshield of a car. The ice shattered, and the windshield looked like someone threw a big rock into the middle of it. We immediately hit the floor. About a minute later we both crawled on our stomach and slowly peaked over the edge. There were 4 people standing by the car looking up at the balconies trying to find out where it came from. At that moment my parents walked back in the room. We immediately stood up and asked to go to the arcade. “What were you guys doing?” my mom asked. “Oh nothing we were just enjoying the view.” I replied. Skeptical she said, “ok., behave down there.” That story stayed with me until I was 18 years old when I decided to share it with my parents. 8 years later.. they laughed. Personally I think it was a good call on waiting..
Life is too short to live an average life. Enjoy it! Think back to the life you had as a 10 year old. Wake up, go to school, hang out with your friends, and maybe go to a sports practice a couple days a week. Whether or not you had a good day depended on what you had for lunch and how recess went. Life sure changes.. but sometimes we get too caught up with the business of our lives that we forget to have some fun. Although I don’t recommend throwing ice cubes off hotel room balconies, make sure you do something that you enjoy EVERY day. A big part of life we forget is enjoying it! Lighten up your work day by walking around with a farting machine, order 20 pizza’s to your boss’s office, pull the fire alarm, do something to make today one of those days that you still talk about 10 years from now. Life is too short to just let it pass by. So live it!