Kite

Grocery stores are masters of the art of manipulation. As an adult, I stand in the checkout line, carefully weighing the indulgent options. Meanwhile, I tell my kids, “we don’t need” whatever candy or toy snared them.

I survived the many heartbreaks as a child. We’d pace through the boring store, filling the cart with a lot but nothing I cared about. After 8 or 9 hours of rolling down every single aisle, followed by two quick sprints back for the “I forgot,” we’d finally head to check out. The tempter’s trap was loaded with baseball cards, candy, soda, and comic books.

I picked a kite and Fruit Stripe gum on one of my successful attempts. Fruit Stripe gum is delicious but has a disappointing lifespan. I am pretty sure it loses flavor as the stick slides out of the paper wrapper.

The kite was easy to assemble, but it didn’t fly. I assumed, like the gum, it has a short lifespan of enjoyment. That’s when Bob came home. Bob was a roofer who lived two doors down. As he drove past, we waved as usual. Bob was always cool. His dog, Bear, was very mean-looking, although super sweet. His garage housed a 1963 split-window Corvette that came out on the nicest of weather days.

He saw me struggling with the kite and offered help. I told him the kite was too flimsy to fly, or perhaps there wasn’t enough wind. He grabbed a shop towel from his garage and ripped it into strips. As he tied them to the base of my kite, he told me it was too light. Adding weight seemed insane, but it flew beautifully on the first attempt.

Sometimes, I get overwhelmed with all I have to do. I push harder and scramble more while continuously cramming things into my to-do list. I hear Bob’s wisdom: Sometimes, you need balance to fly more smoothly. When I have so much to do, resting seems just as crazy.

I also see the balance he created in our day. Roofing in Texas is high on the list of exhausting jobs. Stopping to fly a kite after a long day probably wasn’t his original plan. Those few moments of kindness probably created some balance in his day. While it was a small moment he wouldn’t remember, sharing his time, kindness, and wisdom has stuck with me for 30+ years.

When exhausted, will I allow time for a moment of kindness or rest? Will I seek the needed balance to avoid flailing in the wind? Can I pass along a small piece of wisdom that might fix your broken kite?

Be curious, be kind, be whole, do good things.