We see them every day. We walk through them every day. We open them. We close them. Sometimes we knock on them. Sometimes others knock on ours. What is it about doors that struck a cord with me?
Over the summer my son attended a Leadership camp in Boston. It was the first time that a child in our family would be going away to a camp, having to get on a plane and not know one person where he was going. Huge stuff huh? Anyway, the day came when our son was leaving for Boston. I had decided to fly up with him, leave him with his people then spend the day with a good friend of mine. We flew to Boston, arrived at the baggage claim area and met the person who would be escorting my son to his home for the next six days. We grabbed our bags and headed out to the area where we were to meet the bus to pick up my son. After an hour of waiting and a huge build up of anxiety the bus arrived. It parked and a woman stepped off the bus. “You must be dad?” she asked. “I certainly am”, I responded. Well, after some small talk she looked at me while pointing her finger at me and said, ” Get a good look at his face now, because after a week, it’s going to change!” With that, I lost it. I grabbed my son and gave him a huge hug, shed some tears and said goodbye. He turned toward the bus while walking away from me and took what I assume were two very scary and intimidating steps onto the bus. He was out of my sight and would be on his own for a week. Right then and there I captured that picture in my head and I will forever remember that moment. It reminded me of the movie, “Field of Dreams” when the players would leave the field at the end of the day, walk into the corn fields and disappear. And disappear Robbie did for the next six days!
How many times a day do we walk through doors? We walk through doors to leave our house, to go from one room to the next, to walk into our place of business, to go into stores, restaurants, etc, etc… The moment my son stepped onto that bus his life changed, as well as mine. I’m sure he was scared to death, but it took courage to keep moving forward despite that fear. Whenever we approach a door in our lives, we can’t be one hundred percent sure what is on the other side of that door. We have to approach those doors no matter what fear resides in our heads and we have to walk through those doors with courage. Every decision we make in life is like approaching one of those doors. We have a choice to make and each choice represents a door. We’re not absolutely sure of what the consequences are by the choices we make but we still have to keep moving forward despite that fear of the unknown. Our lives move in different directions all the time by the choices we make, by the doors we decide to open, and the doors we decide to close.
Six days later we picked my son up at the airport. As he walked off that plane all I wanted to do was see his face and the change that occurred from those last six days. And change I saw! I saw confidence! I saw happiness! I saw a changed little boy, my son! Whenever we make decisions in life, we become that changed little boy. We walk away with confidence from those decisions. We walk away happier that we made that choice! We walk away changed! I was inspired by that moment and I every time I have to make a decision in life, I think of that day and the courage my son had to have to take those two steps into the unknown. He inspired me that day and for the rest of my days! Until next time…