The Hardest Things

Many things come easily to me, like writing, reading, multiplying, you know, all the stuff they teach you in elementary school. Other things are slightly harder for me, but I eventually get the hang of them and become mildly proficient in time. These are things like drawing maps to scale, lifting weights, driving, and creating and growing a city in Cityville (don’t judge. I’ve seen you playing Farmville when you thought no one was looking).

However, there are a small number of things that, no matter how hard I try, I can never master them. These things include eating only one cookie, sipping wine, and drafting a quality fantasy baseball team. Luckily, the things I master easily far outnumber the other two categories, so I stay happy most of the time. But I’ve found, though, that the ones in the third category give me more satisfaction when I come close (yet, inevitably fail) than the ones I do quickly and efficiently on the first try. There is something to be said about the journey.

What honestly takes the cake for me, though, are the things my children find easy to do, but that are difficult for me. I mean, they’re six and four, respectively, and sometimes they honestly put me to shame. Most recently I have been shown up by my six-year old in MarioKart on the Nintendo Wii.

I bought this game for the girls as a Christmas present, thinking I would fool around with it myself once they were asleep. Little did I know that in the following three weeks I would make absolutely no progress (possibly even regressing) while Lexi has become a racing champion. Now, when she asks me to race against her, I can’t say no, but sometimes I want to, sad to say. I am so competitive so it just rankles me to no end that no matter how hard I try, I can’t master this seemingly simple game, and my six-year old has.

But that’s not where it ends, though, because that’s not really what it’s all about. What really matters most is how I deal with it. It is easy for me to be upset and let it show, being the ultra-competitive person I am, but I’m learning to see that just playing with her is the end goal, not winning. It is incredibly hard to see that, but it’s getting easier the more I finish in last place.

But I keep trying, and that’s the point.

Sam