In most every family, there is that one child that tends to create mayhem. For us it is Landon, though Caleb may be learning his ways. Landon is always doing something. He runs at 90 mph and throws caution to the wind. He is giving us grey hairs by the day, but is lots of fun. This is the same Landon, that totaled our golf cart when he was 2.
We received a paddle boat for Christmas to use on our pond. On New Year’s day after Amanda had finally recovered from the flu and the weather warmed up, we got out on the boat for a short time. It was a beautiful day. We enjoyed being out there for a couple of hours. All of us had life-jackets and warm clothes.
We thought we were going to make it through with no incidence, until I slipped up.
The kids pulled the paddle boat up to the bank. I didn’t want the kids to get their boots wet or slip getting out of the boat. Austin asked me to pull the boat up farther. I didn’t check to see where Landon, who had been riding in the back seat, was at the moment. I am still not sure where he was. He was likely standing up and moving toward the front of the boat. He may have been leaning over touching the water. But it didn’t matter!
Because when I pulled the boat up on the bank farther, Landon was thrown out!
He came up quickly with a shocked look and making all kinds of noise. I stepped out in the water and got him quickly.
We stripped him down and put some of Brooke’s clothes on him to warm him up. The temp was in the 50s so it wasn’t that bad of a day.
- This is the pitiful scene but the smile soon returned.
That was on a Wednesday night. Landon loved the story. He went around telling church members all about his polar plunge. Do you know his favorite part of the story? It wasn’t the tough boy image of jumping in cold water, no it was the fact that it wasn’t his fault. It was his dad’s. He told this portion of the story loud and clear, it wasn’t my fault, it was dad’s — “He dumped me out of the boat!” Landon, the boy who seems to always be in mischief, loved that it was not his fault this time!
It was shocking and unpleasant at the moment, but made a really cool story.
I was reminded once again, that I need to be more into the details of life. It is so easy to act, without considering the consequences. Sometimes details matter. I tend to neglect the details sometimes, and it often bites me.
