That's What I Would Have Done, Too!

I was sitting at a tiki hut listening to a band when all of a sudden I was hit on the side of my head.  I didn’t see it coming and, in fact, I didn’t even know what I was hit with.  It startled me and the impact caused me to spill some of my iced tea.  (I know, many of you are probably crying at such a tragic mishap.  Try to keep it together for another minute, or so.)

It turns out I was hit with a bean bag.  I was sitting near the area where some folks were playing bean bag toss.

A young boy (maybe 5 years old, or so) came running up and said, “I am so sorry, sir.”

I smiled and said, “It’s alright.  No problem.  It was an accident.”

He looked genuinely frightened that he had hit me—a stranger—while playing the game.  But out of the corner of my eye I could see that his sister, who looked to be a couple of years older, was literally falling down laughing.

For just a moment, while she was laughing I thought, “Hey, what is this?!?  The nerve of that girl.  Her little brother hits me and causes me to spill some of my iced tea and she laughs about it?!?”  In my momentary indignation I thought, “It seems pretty rude!”

But then I quickly realized, “Give her a break, buddy boy.  That’s exactly what you would have done when you were her age.”

So, I turned to tell the kids, “It’s okay.  I’m not angry.  I’ve done similar things.”  But when I looked back to where they had been playing they were both gone.

Then I laughed because that’s exactly what I would have done when I was their age, too.