I was fortunate this weekend to camp with my family at a very secluded camping spot near Greyton. As usual my son was having the time of his life building shelters, catching fish with no bait on his hook and swimming in the river. At some point I heard a cry and realized that he must have hurt himself. Expecting the worse I rushed down to him while he was still sitting halfway in the water crying. After he explained to me what had happened I tried to calm him down and make use of the opportunity to teach him about the dangers of jumping into shallow water, especially when you cannot see the bottom. I carried him back to the camp while explaining to him that he might not be able to walk for a while. He gave it a long silent thought and then replied: "Dad, it was still the best camp ever!"
I had to smile. How many times do we still say those words ourselves? We go on holiday and come back complaining about the traffic, the poor service and the weather that did not work in our favour. I thought the safety lesson on jumping in murky water was a valuable one to ponder over, but the lesson he gave me on the day left me with more to think about. Why can't we enjoy every opportunity we have with the same enthusiasm and excitement than what children do? No matter how it ends can we still say in the end "Wow, this was the best one ever"?
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