A Penguin in Maine

In our neighborhood woods of deep icy snow, Virginia kept falling, couldn’t find her groove. She’s six and can only handle so much difficulty in a day, so after about the tenth time she fell, she didn’t get back up and started whining and crying that she couldn’t go on.

I’m a mom of four little kids and can only handle so many tantrums in a day, so I walked on. It might not have been the right thing to do in my daughter’s time of distress, but it was late afternoon, and I’d come outside with her to catch a break from all the noise inside our home, so I wasn’t about to endure more noise here.

I didn’t walk far. Just far enough to take some deep breaths in silence and to ask for Jesus’s help. That’s when I had an idea. I walked back and looked at Virginia still lying on the trail. “We’re on an expedition to find a lost penguin,” I said. (In case you didn’t know, Virginia loves penguins.) “The last blizzard blew her from her home in Antarctica all the way to Maine, and she needs us to find her and help her get back home.”

Virginia didn’t move. I walked on again, thinking, If this doesn’t work, I don’t know what will.

When Virginia was just out of sight, I heard her call, “Wait up!”

She appeared seconds later within the naked trees, marching now with determination through the hard, slippery snow. When she reached me, she confidently stepped in front, declaring, “I’m going to lead.”

And she did. She still slipped and fell along the way, but now that she had a purpose on her hike, she never stayed down long.

In fact, she led us all the way back home where, to my surprise, she ran and slid on her belly down the icy slope of our front yard, just as a penguin would do.

“Looks like we found her,” I said after the fifth or sixth time Virginia belly-slid down.

Kids may be able to only handle so much difficulty in a day, but the way they bounce back into pure joy is something to strive for.

Watching my penguin-child, I let go of the frustration I’d hiked with in our woods and went to slide with her down our hill.