Dance!

As the payment deadline approached and I wasn’t quite halfway to where I needed to be, I got called into the offices of a local non-profit organization. They had heard about what I was trying to do and they presented me with a check that they hoped would help. I’ll never forget how much that encouraged me.

In the end, however, I failed.

I did not raise the money that I needed, and that meant that there would be no European trip for me until many years later.

I was sad.

In my fantasy of how it would all turn out, I imagined a miracle like the kind that comes at the end of the movie; the one that comes just in the nick of time. But my miracle never came, and I didn’t get to “experience the triumph of great achievement,” but—

I did fail “while daring greatly!”

I played with everything that I had, and I discovered that playing, especially when you lose, is not nothing.

Because I played the way that I did, a lot of other kids were encouraged to go on that trip and they had a great time. I got to know myself better because I played. I got to develop a couple of skills that would definitely come in handy later on in life and I got to make some new friends. That was all really something.

When I finally did make it to Europe, Paris was my first stop. I remember that when my taxi rolled into that city, I was so profoundly appreciative that I wanted to cry because once upon a time I tried, and I fell short.

And you?

When “it’s” finally all said and done, in the final analysis, don’t you imagine that it will be far better to be able to look back and remember that you played, rather than that you decided that you couldn’t, and so—

You never even tried?

Imagine.

I felt sorry for myself for more than a few days after I didn’t raise all the money, because I didn’t get to go. But, I would do it all over again. In fact, I have. When I look back and reflect on the many times that I tried, and tried, and failed, I honestly lose count. But because I try, I win sometimes and I know what it means to live a life ENGAGED and AWAKE and A MESS and—