Recently, on a family vacation in Colorado, my middle son Jacob decided to spend some of his hard-earned money on a cheap slingshot. The tourist trap that sold it to him is a cozy little log cabin, at a historical site, with a beautiful view of the Rocky Mountains. The deer head slingshot was a piece of junk, but worked great for a few hours, it shot as well as Jacob needed it to.
It had already exceeded my bleak expectations when one of the antlers holding the band snapped off, which broke my son’s heart. I know disappointment is a part of life, and in fact at times I enjoy watching my children deal with setbacks, knowing that they are learning important lessons. This time was different though. I was hurting with him. Jacob wears his tender heart on his sleeve, and his sullen look and sunken head was all the indication I needed that something had to be fixed.
“Come on Jake, we’ll just find an old stick and build you a new one.” He looked up at me through his thick glasses and tears.
“You can make me a slingshot dad?” There it was – the sparkle of hope in his eye.
“Nope… we can make you a slingshot Jake.”
And so we were off, hiking in the “green space” near my brother’s subdivision, with the gorgeous skyline of the mountains watching over us, our eyes focused on every stick and twig in hopes of finding a suitable replacement.
Along our walk, we talked and joked and threw rocks and just hung out, it was great. Jacob had no idea what to look for, so I explained and eventually we agreed on the perfect specimen. It was in a brush pile along a hiking trail. I snapped off the unnecessary branches and we hiked back to the house with our very rough homemade slingshot.
When we got back, I scavenged up a few tools and we were hard at work. First cutting the slingshot to a perfect length with brush pruners, and then using a pocketknife to shave off all of the suckers and burrs. We talked and laughed the whole time. When it was fairly smooth, Jacob took over, sanding and sanding until that thing shone in the sun. He got it so smooth. I was really impressed.
I then notched in a few cuts for the rubber band to sit; we reused the one from the souvenir store. With the new rubber band on, we were back in business. I looked forward to another walk back to the green space.
While searching for the perfect pile of rocks for ammunition and an appropriate shooting range, it finally hit me. This was really fun. Jacob is no stranger to the outdoors; he and my oldest son Brendan regularly hunt and fish with me, but today was different. We were on Jacob’s terms and this was about him. I am embarrassed to say he doesn’t get a lot of my individual attention, but then again, the middle child never does. It is sad that I had to fly across the country to spend quality time with someone I live with.
The fact that our “new and improved” slingshot worked perfectly is just icing on the cake; the real souvenir is the time we spent together. I had Jacob carve his name in the slingshot, and when he gets bored with it, it’s getting locked in my gun case with my wife’s jewelry.
I’m not afraid of him using it, I’m afraid of losing it.
