Life has many moments that qualify as an intelligence test. Papa has a memory from the big snow storm of 1948. Drifts and shoveled snow was piled a quarter of the way up our rickety garage. I was young and very much in the mode of being wide eyed about “big boys” in the neighborhood. Play in the snow easily escalated to risky acts during that winter blizzard. That looks like fun that I can do passed through my developing brain.
So it was that that I found myself perched atop our garage, ready to jump. Or, was I? The height seemed greater when viewed from top down. Not too many years later I experienced that same epiphany when on the high dive board in Oconomowoc. No backing down that summer thanks to kids climbing/blocking the ladder back to safety. However, on my first go around your great-grandad was Papa’s lifeline.
”Just because big Bob Krause jumps off roofs doesn’t mean you need to prove stupidity.” His words, coupled with the daunting height, made sense. I didn’t need to jump as I had to do at Lake La Belle.
These thoughts returned when I read about an annual event in a country three of you are visiting during your current European tour. Our boys wouldn’t jump into a narrow Spanish street during the running of the bulls, would they? That’s an ultimate intelligence test. No, the photo received shows all three rascals on a beach in Barcelona. Good choice. Keep it up. You will encounter situations throughout life that may seem like fun/excitement but have the potential for darker outcomes. That’s why brains exist. To pass intelligence tests.