On our little mountain hike, we just needed to get from Point A to Point B. No-brainer, right? The best route is a straight line, right? Not when you’re with a 4-year-old.
Having magnanimously bestowed upon my grandbuddy Blaine the title of Fearless Leader, I was obliged to follow in his footsteps wherever they may lead.
So instead of taking the nice respectable road as I suggested (begged is probably more accurate), Fearless Leader lit off through the Christmas tree farm the size of two football fields. I’d no choice but to follow.
And of course we had to fight off attacking bad guys left and right with our laser sword sticks along the way, which meant zig-zagging back and forth across the gargantuan field to make sure we hadn’t missed any concealed enemies.
This was a bit difficult for me, since the bad guys were invisible, but Fearless Leader seemed to have no problem at all locating their hiding places. We were aided in our quest by Batman, Superman, Spiderman, and Larry Boy (in case you’re not tuned in to the preschool set, he’s the Veggie Tales superhero).
Silly Mimi couldn’t see them either but Fearless Leader humored me by channeling their voices as we soundly defeated foe after foe.
An hour later, we emerged on the other side, victorious, exhausted, and plastered with dandelion parachutes. We must’ve run through millions of those things in our relentless pursuit of truth, justice, and the Mountain Way. It seemed whimsically appropriate to be snow-covered with one of the imaginative staples of childhood.
Fearless Leader said we sure must be gonna have a LOT of our wishes come true. Cool.
So from now on when I pass that Christmas tree farm, I shall never look at it the same way again. Life’s full of battlefields where you least expect them.
“When you go out to battle against your enemies … do not be afraid of them; for the Lord your God is with you.” (Deuteronomy 20:1, NKJV)
