“Can I go outside?” my seven year old daughter asked as I sat relaxing in the family room at our home. She loves the swing set in our backyard and spends lots of time swinging on the swings. “Sure. That’s fine with me,” I said as she quickly slipped on her flip flops and dashed into the backyard. A few minutes later, my wife came downstairs after waking up from her Sunday afternoon nap and sat with me in the family room. Before I knew it, my daughter was opening the sliding glass door wanting us to watch her new trick on the swing. Her trick was adventurous. After proving that she could use the rope swing to increase her speed on the regular swing, my wife and I continued hanging out in the family room…until the sliding glass door opened once again, but this time my daughter was crying. “What happened?” we asked. She proceeded to tell us (through the tears) that she had fallen off the swing and now her wrist was hurting. Since my daughter is a thrill seeker as well as accident prone, we took her to the local emergency care center where the x-rays revealed a broken radius (the lateral bone of the forearm). This is the second bone my daughter has broken this year and she just got her last cast off six weeks ago! Also, in keeping with her last broken bone, which she broke on my wife’s birthday, Lexi broke this bone on my birthday. I wonder what she will do for Christmas this year?
Today, when we were waiting in the doctor’s office I told my wife, “None of this would have happened if I would have told her that she couldn’t go outside.” Have you ever had one of those moments where you’ve questioned a better outcome if you would have made a different decision? I know I have. Unfortunately, no matter how bad you question your decision, it is already a part of your past.
Instead of attempting to change the past, fight to reclaim the future.
