By Daniel Day
It was winter in Florida, which meant the temperature outside was perfect. We were also on vacation, which meant the stresses of life were, well, not as intense. My boys are now old enough to enjoy the boat, so for the first time, we—my brother-in-law, father-in-law and I—decided they would go with us on our fishing trip. We packed the boat the night before and woke up early. We piled into the car and were on our way to the dock by sunrise.
A few minutes later, we stopped at the store to get a cotter pin for the rotor that holds the prop in place. My father-in-law had noticed that the current cotter pin was rusty, and didn’t want to risk getting stuck in the ocean. We bought the new pin, and then spent 15 or more minutes trying to get the old, rusted one out of the hole. It broke. It broke again. It broke again. Small little pieces were breaking off in the teeth of needle-nosed pliers, but the majority of the pin was jammed. At this point, the sun was up, and everyone was frustrated. We realized the pin was so jammed that it wasn’t going to fall out of the rotor, and decided to go fishing anyway. We would stay close to shore.
We finally got the boat in the water, and then realized we had forgotten ice. My father-in-law ran into the small store at the dock and came out with some live shrimp for bait, a bottle of lemonade and a snack. No ice. He ran back in and came out with another bottle of lemonade and again, no ice. He ran back in a third time and got the ice. Can you tell we were all a bit frazzled?
Finally, we got on the water and my bro-in-law discovered a money-load of bait. Unfortunately, there was a strong current, and some very sharp rocks. I took over the helm and pulled him up close enough to throw the cast net. He threw a pancake—a perfect throw where the net is spread out to catch the maximum number of minnows—and then realized that the pull string had fallen off his hand. He dove into the water so he didn’t lose the net. He grabbed the string and swam back to the boat. He began to pull in the net and realized he had a ton of bait. We were all excited. The net was completely full, and then it snagged on a rock. “Snagged” doesn’t quite capture it. It gave the rock a bear-hug and we couldn’t get it off. The net broke.
It was at that moment that my brother-in-law realized he was missing a shoe—a bright orange croc. We began to troll the gulf looking for it. A few minutes later, we found it bobbing up and down in the water a few hundred feet away.
We did the only thing you can do in a situation like that—when everything falls apart and seems like a complete disaster—we laughed and then went fishing anyway. Although we didn’t catch much, we had fun. Why? Because we laughed and didn’t let a series of unfortunate events get in the way of a good day.
I don’t always respond this way when bad things happen. Sometimes I get overwhelmed or stressed out. Sometimes I respond in anger. But here’s the thing, whenever bad things happen, we are all presented with a choice—will we let those bad things ruin the day? Or will we choose to be happy? It really is up to you, and me, and my brother-in-law that ripped a net and lost his shoe. You are only one choice away from enjoying today.
Daniel Ryan Day is the author of two books, including his most recent work: Intentional Christian (now available). He’s also the COO of Cascades Mountain Resort, Old Orchard Tavern and Asheville’s Fun Depot. Daniel lives in Fairview, NC with his wife and three kiddos. Connect with him on Facebook, Instagram or at intentionalchristianity.com.