The Lone Wolf

This winter our family went tubing (As highlighted in "The Truth"). We were the first few people on the mountain when the tubing hill opened. The snow guards gave us lots of extra attention and allowed us to combine tubes. For the first few trips down the mountain we went in different combinations. Mom and the girls, Dad and the girls, Mom or Dad with each girl.... For the first hour we asked our son to join us as a group. He refused our invitation saying: "I'm a lone wolf."

This became our expression. The four of us were a wolf pack and pleaded to invite the lone wolf to join us. At the bottom of the hill when the snow guard would tether us to the tow rope we would ask and he replied: "No, I'm a lone wolf."

As the tubing experience continued we created quite a path on the snow. Our family of four became very competitive trying to position our tubes in such a way that we would fly down the hill and beat our last distance. It had become apparent that adding a fifth wolf to our pack would in deed help us achieve our goal. I can't remember what turned the tide but the lone wolf finally agreed to join the pack and that slide was indeed, the fastest, funnest and longest ride of the day. At the end our daughter looked at our son and said: "Isn't it great to be part of a pack."

I think this is a great analogy for life. It only takes a few emotionally wounding experiences to encourage us to break out of the pack and become of loner. Statistics show that loneliness leads to dissatisfaction at home and work, depression and even suicide. The lesson is... get connected. Take a risk! Join a wolf pack!