Crash Landings

My dad always said: any landing that isn’t a crash landing is a good one.

These were the words I heard after every white-knuckled driving lesson my dad gave me.

My mom was the stickler for rules but my dad’s relaxed nature was much better suited to teaching four intrepid teenagers to drive.

I loved the dedicated time with my dad. He worked all day and rushed home for dinner but never said no to a request to ride shotgun to give us some much-needed windshield time.

I remember some of the first few times trying to navigate other cars parked on the street and instead of sternly correcting my form he simply said: "That was good. Next time maybe we try not to kink the car." His words were always gentle and forgiving.

Each time we retuned home and I’d put the car in park he would say: "well, any landing that isn’t a crash landing is a good one!". At the time I assumed he was telling me I did a good job driving that day. In hindsight, I can see now that this was more of an overarching lesson to be carried over into many other facets of life.

It’s about looking for the good, seeing the silver lining, doing your best and – possibly most importantly – trying again tomorrow.