a lesson i wish i had learned...
snow is being forecast for Nashville. i don't like the snow and the cold. as a kid, of course, it was great. you'd get on your snowsuit, gloves, hat, and mittens then go out into the white wilderness to play for about 15 minutes (which seemed like hours to us) then come back into the warm house and hope for hot cocoa.
growing up in Michigan, there was snow from early November until sometimes late March, so there was plenty of time to get out and play. there were times when there were snow drifts in our yard that were 4 or 5 feet deep, and my younger brother and i would dig tunnels into the drifts. those are, sadly, some of the best memories of him. he would always do more tunneling than i did. i would get bored of it pretty quickly but he would sometimes be out in the tunnels for an hour or more.
down the road a bit (about a city block, maybe less) there was a great hill for sledding. the hill was not too steep so you could walk back up after sliding down, and it opened out into a broad field, so no worries about traffic or sliding into a tree or river. the whole neighborhood (and even kids from beyond the neighborhood) would use the hill all winter. the family who owned the property (or at least were property adjacent, as an adult i realize they probably didn't actually own it...) were cool about it and didn't block access.
anyway, that hill is the main reason for my entry. i would go to the hill winter after winter, not thinking too much about it. it was there and it was fun. then one year, i am pretty sure i was 10 or 11, my best friend at the time, Matt, knocked on the door. it was the first heavy snow of the season, and he was dressed in his snowsuit. he told me that he was rolling down the sledding hill, knocking down the weeds, and he wanted me to come join him. i was busy (probably busy doing something close to nothing tbh) so i said that i would try to get out there later. ofc i never did, and when the snow fell enough to use the hill, it was ready. i should add that Matt and his family lived literally across the street from the neighbors who's hill (i thought at the time) this was.
the next spring or summer, the time frame is hazy, Matt and his family moved. there were still in the same school district (Matt was two years behind me in school, but i did see him again when i was a junior and he was a freshman) but he essentially was gone from my life. i made new friends and life moved on.
anyway, that next winter after the snow fell, i knew it was time to hit the hill and sled. i walked down with my sled and got to the top of the hill. looking down, the hill had tall weeds sticking out of the snow, making sledding difficult. (yes, i tried it several times.) it was only then that i remembered Matt wanting me to roll down the hill to knock down the weeds. i went home and to be honest, i didn't sled down that hill again. i stopped going outside to play in the winter.
the problem was that i didn't learn the lesson that i should have. that sometimes (no, most of the time) there is work that has to be done before you can enjoy the rewards of something. if i had gone with Matt that day, i would have known about knocking down the weeds to get the hill ready, but i didn't go. it's a lesson i've had to learn and relearn many times as i grown older. i still often look for the easy way but i've also learned that the easy path isn't the one that leads to the best rewards.