When my kids were little, our birthday tradition always included a pinata. Half of the fun was picking it out, half was filling it and half was beating the crap out of it. (If you did the math…yes, it was always 50% more fun than we even expected!)
(Not this pinata)
For one of these parties, we had a spider pinata. Don’t know why. We don’t have any birthdays around Halloween or any good explanation like that. We just had a spider. A couple of days before the party, my three-year-old daughter informed me that she intended to “break the a$$ out of the spider.”
(But this one)
Okay, you caught me. We use a little salty language at our house. And yes, my three-year-old said a$$. (I suppose I could say ass, but a$$ seems more ladylike.)
Of course, this is one of those quotes that you write down because it’s cute and funny. But I actually think about this a lot. At three, she knew what she wanted to do several days in advance. And according to her description, she was visualizing it. She wasn’t just planning to take her turn and see where it went. No, she was planning to break the a$$ out of it. She had a goal and she was focused on it.
Now, I could end this right here by saying, “And she did!” Happily ever after.
Instead, I’ll be honest. I can hardly remember what happened a month ago, let alone fifteen years ago. She may or may not have broken the spider’s a$$ out. But it doesn’t really matter, does it? The point is…she had a goal and she went for it.
That’s why I think about it a lot. On a good day – a motivated day – I think about all that I have to do and I think that I’m going to do my best to break the a$$ out of the spider. Or a bunch of spiders, depending on how you choose to use the analogy. In my mind, the spider or spiders are specific and, at very least, I have a goal in mind. I may or may not accomplish everything, but I can always set my sights on a new spider tomorrow!
To each of you who took a few minutes to read this – I thank you!! And I wish you lots of broken-a$$ed spiders, as well!!