Consequences: A Drama in Three Parts, Part 1

I

There comes a time in everyone's life when they make a really stupid decision and have to face the consequences. For some this comes late in life, for others it comes early. I have made many stupid decisions in my day. Sometimes I have received punishment in direct measure to the crime, and other times I have managed to squeak by without measurable effect. The Fates are fickle.

The first time I truly remember being punished for my actions was when I was about four years old. We still lived at the first house I ever knew, in St. Helens. I was eating cereal for breakfast and my dad was sitting across from me at the table. I feel like he may have been reading the newspaper. I'm not sure. What I do know was that I was also drinking apple juice. I had finished my cereal and left the sugary milk in the bottom of the bowl. I didn't enjoy drinking leftover cereal milk, something my parents forced me to drink so that my bones would be the sturdy pillars of health they are today. In direct defiance, I poured my apple juice into my milk. "Look," I piped up, "I mixed them." I'm not sure what I expected. Probably a pat on the head and suggestion to go play. What I received was a steely glare. 

"You will finish that." I'm sure I responded in some negating fashion. "You will finish that before you leave the table."

After many protests and the horrible realization that my dad was sticking to his guns, I took a sip. Do you know what apple juice and milk mixed together tastes like? Shit. It totally tastes like shit. I drank the whole thing.

The great thing (or perhaps the sad thing) about mistakes, is that the possibilities are endless. While I never mixed apple juice and cereal milk together again (and thankfully have never tasted that concoction since), I continue to find creative ways to do stupid things. I'm pretty sure that most people experience this unless you are so boring that you hardly do anything at all.

My friends are not boring. It is quite likely that Shi Shi Beach has never witnessed a debacle like the one it saw last weekend. We had our annual Shi Shi Beach camping trip last weekend, and while it was beautiful, joyful, and otherwise magical, not all of us escaped unscathed.

Tune in tomorrow and prepare yourself for a lot of Twin Peaks references.