Recently, Mr Pigglesworth took his family to an adventure play park. There were a range of activities such as trampolines, giant slides and swings, ball pits and a range of obstacles to navigate. The kids were into it, trotting from one activity to the next with big smiles of delight on their face. Then the youngest Pigglesworth spied something even more exciting. The rotating arm.
The rotating arm is a large foam padded arm that revolves in a circle. There are trampolines under the arm that allow you to jump over or duck depending how low to the ground you can get. It was clear the youngest Pigglesworth might not be able to negotiate the challenge effectively so Mr Pigglesworth stepped in to assist. He scooped up the youngest and leapt on the trampoline. Around came the arm and with the skill of a gazelle, a jump as gracious as a kangaroo, Mr Pigglesworth cleared the hurdle with ease. Around it came again, and once again the gracious leap provided sufficient height to navigate over the arm. Third time was a charm as well. Then trouble.
The steady swing of the arm had been upset by some other children on the opposite side and instead of moving at a consistent height, it swayed up and down in a parabolic nature. As the arm came around, Mr Pigglesworth attempted to analyse how the movement was going to impact his next decision. All at once, the arm was upon him and caught between a state of jumping, ducking and evasion he was cleanly struck by the arm in what can only be described as a baseball bat striking a loaf of sliced bread. Mr Pigglesworth and the youngest Pigglesworth spun a complete loop before falling into a heap on the trampoline floor. Grace certainly did go before the fall. Thankfully, both had a soft landing and the youngest Pigglesworth even found some amusement in the situation.
Mr Pigglesworth evaluated that situation. It's clear that his decision hadn't been successful. It also wasn't a complete disaster as it had brought smiles to those around (after the initial concern of course). On reflection, the initial three options had left him not able to properly react when the situation changed. In fact, the moment of trying to enact all three options simultaneously was the opposite of what should be done. The youngest Pigglesworth was still intent on getting back on to the rotating arm activity, so Mr Pigglesworth explored the situation some more. He then realised there was a fourth option that was much more controllable and manageable. By moving in to the centre of the rotating arm the youngest Pigglesworth could be placed safely on the centre rotation and the stable edging was much easier to keep ahead of the arm itself. Amazing that this option wasn't as clear prior to starting (it could have saved some of what was remaining of his dignity, after all he was jumping about in a kids activity park). The next time he found himself in a spot of bother he employed this new technique to profound success. It was safe to say that Mr Pigglesworth was feeling pretty proud of himself (and he had achieved flight - so we can add this to our ways of flying a pig although probably not the most preferred option)
Now this will feel like one of those occasions where everything is good in the world, everyone is happy AND we are waiting for some form of impending situation to strike again. BUT it wasn't. Sometimes things just happen to work out, we learn the lesson and we react accordingly. We are wiser for the experience and we can make the most of that. We can determine that we were in fact successful. We can enjoy ourselves, and we can enjoy the company of those around us. Not long after the siren went to end the time in the park. Everyone was intact and everyone had fun. And Mr Pigglesworth has learnt an important lesson in understanding choice.