DocAndersen
The Baltimore Boat Show, we didn’t go this year, it was a busy time of year this year. Plus, it wasn’t that cool the first time we went. It is fun to see a convention center filled with no water, but lots of boats. Boating is an activity that my wife and our daughter love, but the twins don’t really like boating that much. It’s funny because my parents and my wife’s parents love boating. I guess the apple fell and rolled far away from the tree in the case of the twins. They, the twins, used actually to throw temper tantrums about going on the boat. We’ve been trying to help them understand that going to yelling right away diminishes your voice overall. It slowly is seeping into their understanding.
When you are young, every afront seems to be the worst one ever. My grandfather used to tell me when I was younger, to pick the hill you want to die on. Not that I was going to stop living, but rather you can’t fight every battle. You have to be careful and make sure that you can walk away from some battles. Every battle fought for the twins was a hill. It took me a long time to understand what my grandfather meant. Initially, I thought he meant I don’t fight battles. I knew I couldn’t do that. But eventually, having it repeated to me many times, I realized the reality of the gem I was given. It isn’t about walking away from all battles. That won’t help anyone.
It is about making sure that the battle (hill) you pick, is the one. I worked and work with the twins about fighting two-front wars. There is sadly no divide and conquer in our family. My wife and I may disagree about things, but that is handled offline. As far as the twins were concerned, we were a unified front. We choose to fight some battles where the twins couldn’t see or hear them. Again, it is ok to fight a battle. Just make sure that is the battle you need to fight! I got the chance many years after learning the lesson o thank my grandfather. He over the years taught me many lessons. The hill I choose was only one of many that he imparted. Luckily I was able to show him that I did, in fact, learn one lesson!
