“The Lake That Broke My Son’s Leg”
A picture of the actual culprit
Did you ever have one of those moments… or hear about one of those moments that go something like this: dear God if only you’d (xxx) then I promise I will (xxx) or I will never (xxx) again. They’re often pretty dramatic like “if only you help me swim back to shore, then I will devote my life to serving humanity…” or similar to that gravity.
Well, I had a mild version of that the other day…
Mine actually didn’t include God at all (or did it? Who knows, really..) This past summer I launched a Gratitude Buddies World Map and it seemed like the idea had been slow to catch on… although I loved it as a concept and I managed to get some friends to contribute, it didn’t seem like people were falling in love with it like I did. Not to mention, it had a few glitches; the mobile version wasn’t perfect. At some point, I thought I could get people to link a Gratitude Buddies profile to the map (…and I am still holding out for this btw…) but the tech wasn’t up to snuff…
So it felt like it might be time to say goodbye, or so I told myself, well, except that, well…. if there were just one new entry…. If someone, somewhere had actually found the map of their own accord and made an entry…. then I would take it as a sign that it wasn’t the map’s time to go yet…. I’d give it another whirl.
And lo and behold, when I surveyed the posts, indeed there was in fact a new entry on the map. I read through them until I came to one with this title: The Lake That Broke My Son’s Leg. First of all, it sounded like the title of a bestselling novel and it was a little longer than most other posts. So I was intrigued, curious…. and as I read the words of the anonymous poster, I felt grateful, touched, inspired, reminded how yes: sometimes good thing do indeed come from hard things.
So thank you, anonymous posters. You saved Christmas! Er, I mean, the map.
Now, if any other readers here feel inspired to help keep the map alive, then please go for it! It may change as I consider how to make this a way for buddies to meet buddies and/or as the software company makes improvements, but all posts are warmly encouraged. A version is here below to make it as easy as possible.
With much appreciation,
Abbie
