Lessons on Life

On my 20 years on the planet I have found that observing peoples actions and reactions can tell you a lot about a person, particularly ones self. Who you surround yourself with defines you, take just a moment to think about your friends and family, what are the majority of them like?, now think about what you are like, more often than not you are pulled to people most like you, for example I surround myself with happy and generally funny people ( I say generally because some people think they are funny and try too hard which ironically makes them funny, Mum ) and nine times out of ten I wake up in the morning with a smile on my face which carries on until I go to bed.

So taking into account that the people around you can have a lasting impact on your life without knowing it, I would like to take some time and talk about my dad. The best way to describe him is a fortune teller machine that sits on our small couch on the right hand side. When I see my dad he is basically always sitting on that couch, when asking him for advice you don't get any bullshit, its straight to the point, if you don't like it tough!

I've never heard him give a list of hypothetical "what ifs" concerning a problem, to him it is and always will be to just do it. 

If I had say what pops into my head when I think of my dad it would be this phrase, "Don't think about it, just do it", my dad has said this to me I don't know how many times. With this in mind I would like to tell you about one time when I was at Loudon Castle . . .

It was a warm summers day, my family plus my friends family decided to go to Loudon Castle for the day, I remember being about twelve at the time. We went about our business, going on rides having fun, and then it came to lunch time. We sat down at the outdoor picnic facility and I found myself staring at one of the stall games, the game was a football game, the object of it was to get the ball in any of the seven holes dotted about this board, the holes varied in size and obviously the smaller the hole the greater the prize. To me the smallest hole seemed impossible to fit a full sized ball through but none the less I felt like giving it a go, so my dad, my friend and my friend’s step-dad head on over, pay for one shot. I set the ball down on the mark and study the holes, I then turn to my dad and say "Dad, that hole is too small for me to hit this through, I dunno what to do", to which my dad uttered those words "just do it". Unsatisfied with that answer I proceeded to question the hole "Dad I can’t get it in that hole, the ball is too big", in reaction to this my dad asks the attendant if it is possible to put the ball through the hole, the attendant takes the ball and passes it through the hole, Just! With this act, we attract a somewhat small crowd, I could tell at that moment what they were thinking "there is no way this kid is going to get that ball through that, there is just no way", even the attendant had an annoyed look about him that screamed "just do it, you are gunna fail at it like everyone else". Noticing all those people watching me I began to get a little nervous and doubted my kicking ability, I queried my dad once again, "I dunno what to do, do I just kick it?", what do you think the reply was?, "Tom, don't think about it, just do it!", at that moment all my thoughts disappeared, I went into auto-mode and just smacked the ball with my foot, the ball hurtled towards the board and goes through that small hole that I questioned so much, as soon as it passed through I remember bouncing up and down with my dad and the others, looking at the spectators as I was jumping and seeing the disbelief on their faces and even more so the huge disbelief on the attendants face. I won an almost life sized plush version of Homer Simpson.

I like to think back on this story when I find myself questioning things and repeating in my head "don't think about it, just do it" because more often than not it is the right way to go about it, thinking can lead to over thinking and coming up with a million reason and doubts and deter you from doing what you want but to just do it can lead to great things. Sad to say but I never really thought my dad had that much of an impact on my personality but just taking a moment out to think about it, he has taught me one of my most treasured life lessons to date.

All kinds of people are filled with wisdom and something to teach us, all we have to do is look.

Ducks, silly string and a shaky fence!

People have been asking for my next blog and I did have a few ideas lined up, something recently happened that I think would put a positive and funny light on the day.

Thursday night, eleven o'clock, sitting in the living room of my friend Lewis, I asked Natalie Erskine if her and her sister, Julie, would like to come to Lilias day on the Saturday. She instantly said yeah but she would need to ask her sister as she would be babysitting. It was later settled and was decided that we would all go to Lilias day including their cousin who they were babysitting.

On the Saturday Lewis and I head out to pick them up from Erskine, after picking them up we head to Kilbarchan. I'll admit my first thought was "I don't remember it being this small", I was also a little worried in case the day wasn't as fun as hoped because of the limited amount of things to do there. It turned out eventful indeed.

It started with their little cousin Kayleigh (I will assume this is the correct spelling of her name) acting shy around me. The day goes as expected a look about the stalls and such, until Kayleigh buys some silly string, it would be no exaggeration to say that she emptied the entire can all over me, I was covered in pink that said it was extremely fun, childish but fun. 

The cherry on the cake for me was when on the football field, which was the centre attraction for all the events on that day, the event we were watching was a farmer and his dog herding ducks around a obstacle course, quite entertaining, he then asked for 3 children to volunteer to stand inside rings, with that announcement a flurry of kids poured into the field, destroying which ever blockade stood in their way, all to stand in these rings, they were positioned and then there was another announcement for 6 women and 6 men to enter the field for a bit of a competition, Lewis being the somewhat out going type jumped at the chance and ran out right into the field, the announcer then asked him "Do you have any friends who could come up?", to which Lewis stretched out his arm and pointed to me and said " Aye!, Tom, over there!", now me being a somewhat introverted and shy character refused Lewis's attempt to get me up, but once the announcer said over the 30 large speakers that were placed about the field, "C’mon Tom, C’mon!", I couldn't refuse knowing that now all the spectators eyes were firmly fixed upon myself.

So deciding, what’s the worst that could happen, I got all hyped up and attempted to jump the fence, I say attempted because in the process of doing my awesome jump the fence post decided to shake at its foundations and throw me off my landing, I landed on my feet only to lose balance and fall face first into the ground, the whole crowd burst out laughing and the announcer went into a long "WHEEEEEYYYY" over the speakers.

Totally unshaken by the fall I get back up and proceed to the other guys, when all the required people are assembled we are then informed that we ourselves are to guide the ducks around the obstacle course without the use of the dog, females versus males, the females incur a time penalty because the ducks deviated from the path, it was then the guys turn, it’s fair to say we looked like utter idiots trying to usher these ducks around. In the end we won the competition.

It was a great wee day out and I wouldn't have spent it with anyone else. The highlight for almost everybody involved would be me face planting it into the ground. For me it was spending it with the people who made it a great day.