For this weeks installment I’m going to dig deep into my childhood memories, which I mentioned last post, really help form you as an adult. Early influences, people and family all affect the decisions you make early in life that fundamentally affect adulthood. I always tell my kids the small decisions lead to big results. As I look back at my childhood, there’s probably several experiences where we all cringe in thinking “That could have going horribly wrong” or “I never would let my kid do that”! As I have mentioned before and even in the name of my blog, I grew up in a farming community, and my grandfather owned a farm until I was about 10 years old. Whether it was the many times I rode on the fender of the tractor, or stood behind the tractor on the tongue of the trailer or even my grandfather’s box truck that only had one seat so I sat on a milk case on Saturday mornings when I helped him deliver eggs. The takeaway is there were many instances of “I made it through”. Again, we all have these stories and are always great for a laugh when digging them out for your kids or family gatherings.

I wanted to share a specific memory in my childhood that I still have the scars to show today, literally. Growing up outside of Pittsburgh, my family spent most summer vacations camping. I never saw the ocean until I was in eighth grade. For me, the ocean was Lake Erie… I know right??!!! My dad and I also liked to “rough it” even more and did several backpacking trips when I was younger which I will cover in another installment “Lost in the woods”. Truly great memories! Well, one summer he and I decided to go camping in a very isolated, backwoods campground with no electric or water except for a single bathhouse about a quarter of a mile away. It was a very hot summer day, and my dad was in the tent camper preparing our dinner that we planned on cooking over the campfire that we had just started. I was sitting in a chair watching the fire and decided to pull out my new pen knife that my dad had just bought me for my birthday. I had begged for this knife, and he finally conceded against his better judgement to get me the knife. Since we had some time to kill before cooking dinner, I decided to grab a stick and start whittling. It was a small stick but hard wood with a small knot in it so instead of whittling away from me, which is number one rule of whittling wood, I proceeded to whittle toward my hand and forcefully dug the knife into my thumb! I didn’t even realize what had happened until I saw blood all over me. Looking back, I’m pretty proud of myself, I didn’t cry or scream, I very calmly walked over to the door of the camper and just said, “Dad” and held up my thumb gushing with blood. My dad dropped everything grabbed my hand and began putting pressure on both sides of the wound as we trekked by foot the quarter of a mile to the bathhouse that had running water. We got to the bathhouse, and my dad turned on the water and began to open the wound to clean it out. By this time, I was on my knees alongside the sink. There are several parts of the story now that are burned into my memory forever. First, the pain really started to set in as he began running water over the wound. Second, as I kneeled there, I got my first look at the cut and saw the bone. At that point light started to narrow in all around me, and I was on my way to a complete blackout. Then, as quickly as the blackout started I felt a stinging sensation on my left cheek! My dad gave me a good old fashioned face slap and yelled at me “Boy, don’t you pass out on me!” Let me tell you after that I was alert and no way was I going to pass out after my dad “laid the smack down”, literally!

Now in retrospect, I absolutely should have gone to the ER for stitches. It was probably 5 years before I ever got full feeling back in my left thumb and my mom didn’t talk to my dad for a week after we got home and she saw my thumb, but we had a great time and I survived and have a great story and scar to show my kids today!

Leadership takeaways:

1. There are always going to be “fight or flight” situations in life and business, it’s all about how you respond to adversity that drives personal and professional growth. If I would have “lost my cool” or passed out it would have been incredibly difficult for both my dad and myself to tend to the wound.
2. Difficult situations are always going to leave scars, use those scars as memories to act as a testimony or way to remember the situation and how you successfully pulled through. I have an eternal memory on my left thumb that taught me to never, never whittle backwards, (which is the first thing I told my boys when I bought them a knife).
3. In challenging times you may need a helping hand, don’t be afraid or embarrassed to take the help. In my situation, I got a helping hand, literally, across the face!