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Prime Motivator
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Stewartstown, PA
Posts: 11,320
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Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 222 – Mud Puddles
Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 222 – Mud Puddles
Mud Puddles (07-28-08)
So tell me. Do you remember when you were a kid and you sat at the window looking out at the rain and being a little down because you couldn’t go outside? Perhaps not, but in my day, when you were a kid, staying inside on a summer’s day was absolute torture. The house was like a dungeon during the inquisition and mom took on all the characteristics of Torquemada, the grand inquisitor.
That may not be true today, since there is a host of entertainment choices available to any and every one on a rainy day. So much so that our kids don’t even go out on sunny days and chose to stay inside with their video games, iPods, computers, flat screen TVs, and other electronic distractions.
But, not too long ago we had our toys, daytime TV, and books, but we simply couldn’t wait to get outside. If the gods were kind, the rain would let up and the clouds would part, the sun would come out and we would get the long awaited all-clear from the warden as though we had been paroled. Of course, the warden seemed pretty happy, too, for some unknown reason.
Running out of the house, you were always met with that sweet smell of freshness that always seems to linger after a storm. And, if you were lucky, you would find the prize. There, glistening in a rut by the side of the road or in the damp earth of a playground, was your entertainment for the next hour or so; a mud puddle. The remnants of the storm had been trapped there as though waiting just for you. You tromped in it, floated things in it and watched bugs swim in it. It became an ocean to be traversed by its young ship’s captain, a river to be dammed by its youthful engineer, or an island paradise to be discovered by mother’s little explorer.
Of course, when you finally went inside again, you usually got read the riot act for getting yourself and your clothes so darned dirty. But, somehow, that mud puddle was all worth it and the scolding never kept you from seeking the prize after the very next storm. I often got the feeling that mom half expected it and the stern words were more for her benefit than mine and I relished the next adventure.
As we get older, more sophisticated and perhaps less adventurous, those mud puddles cease to attract and amuse, and become something that we step over or around and try to avoid. If they are near our homes, we even attempt to fill them in. We certainly don’t want to get dirty or get our shoes wet or ruin our clothes. We have moved on to other entertainments and pastimes. But, you know, even today I find those mud puddles alluring. If you stop and take a close look, maybe squint a little, and the light is just right as it strikes the muddy water, you can see a rainbow.
Although our antiseptic world has tried to eliminate them, and we have grown up to avoid them, there are still a lot of mud puddles out there to be explored. Find your mud puddle. Squint real hard. Look for the rainbow. Take a chance. And when mom is not looking, get yourself dirty.
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Have a Great Week!
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In Fitness & Friendship,
MAHLER
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There is no light at the end of the tunnel. You carry the light with you.
Member of the Million Pound Club - Deadlift 4,450 x 225
My blog: http://www.iammahler.blogspot.com/
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