an unexpected lesson.

i was probably seven years old; my brother and i were in the dining room.  "animal golf" was the name of the game.  i went into my room and dug around my bright orange jack-o-lantern bucket full of happy meal toys, g.i.joes, and other plastic creatures. i probably grabbed a handful, but i clearly remember pulling out a rhino and a giraffe for us to use as props in our animal golf game.  i could hardly contain myself with the excitement of taking a golf ball around these obstacles as i tried to get to the goal, the baseboard of the dining room.  we didn't have a hole for the ball to go into.  

well, yet.

we set them up, a little miniature-miniature golf course inside the house.  daniel navigated it well enough, and like everything else in life, i had to try to do it better.  sloppily lining up my last shot, i reared back with the putter and "whack!"  i knocked the golf ball straight into the giraffe, tipping it over, and knocked a hole right into the dining room wall with the putter.  it was probably one of the first real "oh shit." moments of my life.  i started crying right there because i knew whatever trouble i was about to get into wouldn't be pretty.

i don't remember exactly how it went down but i sure do remember my punishment.  dad decided that i would learn to fix the tennis ball sized hole i put in the wall.  i'm sure at the time i was furious that i didn't just get sent to my room for the afternoon and banned from playing outside with my friends for a few days.  it was my first time spackling and patching a hole.

and now, as i take a break from starting the facelift i'm putting on our kitchen, i'm so glad i learned how to do it.  i am a beast with some fiberglass tape. i can fix all the cracks and holes in my ninety year old kitchen walls in about forty minutes.  go me.  good to know that if all else fails, i have a career in house painting.

thanks, dad, for the unintentional life skill.  i'll let you know how it turns out.