A Good Day Gone Awry

There are times when one moment of weakness can ruin an otherwise great day.  That happened to me the other day.  My wife and I took the kids for a snowshoe trek.  It was a beautiful day and the winter time temp was a glorious -7C and when the sun shone on your back you could readily feel it.  We were all laughing and having a good time.

Then it happened.

My plan was to have a nice little fire and snacks along with some hot chocolate.  I thought the kids would love to have hot chocolate made over a fire.  The idea had the kids excited and when I quickly got a fire going, it was looking promising.  The excitement translated to no patience and the kids started bickering with one another.  My fire fell deeper than I anticipated and my pot tilted, spilling some water.  What was once a promising start, quickly turned to a disaster in the making.  Now I was losing my patience too.

The kids decided they wanted to forgo the hot chocolate and instead have it at their grand parents.  They then decided it would be good to ignore their mother and me when I tried to back her up.  This set me off and I lost it.  I hollered at both the kids and insisted they stand in front of me while I verbally disciplined them.

What was a great day and relatively warm for winter, quickly turned to a cold day.  The rest of the hike out I felt as big the downey woodpecker I saw flitting through a stand of poplars.  I knew I had over reacted but I also didn't think I could apologize without undermining my own authority.  I pulled my toque down and weathered the storm.

By the time the hot chocolate was done I think all the hollering was forgotten.