![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Jello-3.jpg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
There is simply no reason why some things pop into my head. Labor Day is certainly a holiday, but it\u2019s the last Summer holiday. That means grilling, potato salad, chips, cold drinks from an ice cooler, watermelon. You know, summer stuff. There is no Jell-O in sight. If it was in sight, it would be melting in the heat.<\/p>\n
But there I was, minding my own Labor Day summer holiday business, and Jell-O came to mind. And not just any sort of Jell-O, but a Jell-O mold on a crystal plate. The kind that you bring out for Thanksgiving or Christmas. The jiggly kind. The really, really jiggly kind. Yeah, that kind of Jell-O.<\/p>\n
My wife is from a really big family. That\u2019s saying a lot, as we have eight kids ourselves. She\u2019s one of ten, and all of them are married with kids and some even have grandchildren. Big family gatherings are a hoot. One thing that you can be sure of is that there will be lots of food. A small gathering is 40, a large one can come close to 80. I\u2019m not joking, we\u2019ve had 80 close family members<\/strong> come together for a holiday meal.<\/p>\n And those holiday meals often have Jell-O. The fancy, pretty Jell-O molds that you see in magazines. Naw, none of us are gourmets, but honestly Jell-O molds are something that doesn\u2019t take all that much work, and we eat it…especially if there are mounds of Cool Whip available.<\/p>\n Somehow we\u2019ve never ended up with a Jell-O mold on the floor. That fact alone simply amazes me. But more importantly is the reason why. Envision carrying a Jell-O mold on one of those fancy Christmas plates. The kind that you\u2019re only allowed to get out during the holidays. The ones that look so pretty, but serve virtually no practical purpose. Through years of experimentation, I\u2019ve learned that if you put them in the fridge or freezer before the party and then move the Jell-O onto a chilled plate, it will serve better. That\u2019s you\u2019re practical tip for today. But, the chilled glass makes for a slippery surface when you\u2019re carrying it. Especially if you\u2019ve been working in the kitchen all day.<\/p>\n So there you are, navigating the crowd, Jell-O jiggling like crazy, and yet you make it to the table. Why?<\/p>\n Because when we\u2019re carrying that Jell-O, we know that it\u2019s going to jiggle, and the more we try to stop the jiggling, the worse it will get. It\u2019s like a mini-earthquake under our own control. The best thing to do is head towards the table and make as few adjustments as possible. Let the Jell-O jiggle, just don\u2019t let it slip off the serving plate.<\/p>\n I\u2019m trying to take this approach with my hectic life. I\u2019m trying to relax and let life happen. Life is jiggling all around me, but somehow it\u2019s pretty much working out. Eventually things settle down, but then an aftershock comes along and things start jiggling again.<\/p>\n After 50 years on the planet I\u2019m finally learning to just let the Jell-O jiggle. How about you?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is simply no reason why some things pop into my head. Labor Day is certainly a holiday, but it\u2019s the last Summer holiday. That means grilling, potato salad, chips, cold drinks from an ice cooler, watermelon. You know, summer stuff. There is no Jell-O in sight. If it was in sight, it would be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2150,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[31,44,58],"class_list":["post-41","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity","tag-father","tag-housework","tag-motivational"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Jello.jpeg?resize=300%2C225&ssl=1\")
So I was out on the tractor, mowing our acreage and thinking about holiday dinners and the several Jell-O molds that have to be removed from their mold and take to the table. Navigating from the kitchen to the tables with near 80 people in the house is akin to parkour. The darned Jell-O is jiggling all over the place, trying to jump off the plate. Conversations are going, so the occasional \u201cexcuse me\u201d is often unheard, and loads of kids are running through the house at knee-level.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hectic-dad.com\/hectic-dad\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/09\/Jello-2.jpg?resize=371%2C209&ssl=1\")
That\u2019s kind of a metaphor for life, isn\u2019t it? Sometimes we just have to let life happen (as you get older you try to avoid using the phrase \u201clet life jiggle\u201d as it brings up all sorts of images you don\u2019t want to think about). Letting life happen sometimes is hard, but like the jiggling Jell-O, it\u2019s the best approach. You simply can\u2019t control everything, and sometimes the more you try to control things…the worse it gets.<\/p>\n