2020 - The year of "one more try!"

​“Just one more try Uncle Scooter!”
 
The unseasonably warm weather had pushed the kids and a few of us bigger kids outside on Christmas Eve.  Outside to a trampoline to be more specific.  A trampoline where my younger relatives and a few of my brother-in-laws had been trying to teach me how to do a flip.  It must have been quite a site given the giggles that followed each attempt. 
 
It was now dark and I was heading in to wrap up the day’s conversations with the “grown-ups”.
  
“Just one more try Uncle Scooter!”, they said.  “Come on man. You’re so close!”, my brother-in-law said.
 
So I tried…one more time.
 
I still remember my brother-in-law’s instructions, “Jump high. Bring your knees tight to your chest and lean forward.”
 
As I came down I felt the trampoline push my knee into my face.  
I felt…and heard…bone crunching.  
 
More giggles.
 
I reached for my face and immediately my hands were wet with the blood gushing from my nostrils.
 
“I think I just broke my nose”, I gurgled in the darkness.  
Words unheard above the laughter.
 
I rolled off the edge of the trampoline and began walking towards the back porch light continuing to hold my hands to my face.  It became obvious to the others something was wrong. 
They followed me in. “I think I broke my nose”, I repeated.
 
The first to meet me inside was my wife’s aunt.  She was a nurse.  A safe place for me to lower my hands and reveal the damage.  
I can still see the look on her face.  
Not a comforting look to receive from someone you know is familiar with the medical field.
  
I looked in the mirror. 
My nose was displaced. 
I tried to push it back. 
It didn’t budge. 
 
Emergency rooms are a busy place on Christmas Eve.  At least this one was.
When the doctor finally came in I told him, more out of embarrassment than pain, “You’ve got to fix this”.
 
He said, “I wouldn’t touch that if you were my worst enemy.  You’ll need surgery.”
 
So, for a week, my family had to live with me looking like an MMA fighter…that lost.  
I remember pulling up to a construction site we had been working at just before the holidays and the GC said, “I didn’t know you played hockey.”
  
Two black eyes and a flattened nose.
 
Three days after surgery I bent over to pet our German shorthaired pointer named Hershey.  She  jumped as I leaned forward.  Her hard head hit me square in the nose.  
 
Crunch.  Same noise.  Same pain.  
 
“Hey Jena.  I think I just broke my nose…again.”  
 
The doctor said it wasn’t as bad.  “You can live with it or we can schedule another surgery in a few months where I’ll re-break it and re-set it.”
 
“Let me think about it.  Yep.  I’m good”, I said.
 
The year was 1997.  Hard to believe today it’s 2020.  And I still have a few of the same old resolutions that carry over each year.  Like, never jump on a trampoline and never shop at Walmart after 6am. 
The first one keeps me out of the emergency room.  
The other keeps me out of jail.
 
As we approach this new year, I wonder if there’s a place in your life where a little “Just one more try…” could make all of the difference.  Maybe you’ve even heard some people in your life you trust hint in that direction.   
 
“Come on man.  You can do it!  Just one more try…”
With the dream God’s put in your heart.
With the marriage you’ve invested half of your life into.
With the relationship that feels like it’s not worth it.
 
Allow me to be another voice on the edge of this year that you hear say, “Just one more try!”
 
Having a hard time getting traction with that business idea?  Just one more try.
Struggling to eliminate debt?  Just one more try.
Never been able to get to your goal weight?  Just one more try.
Want to be the best version of yourself as a parent or a spouse?  Just one more try.
Thought about running for office, writing a book, discovering God…(fill in the blank)?
 
“One more try Uncle Scooter!”
 
Just one more try starting it, finishing it, quitting it.
 
Seriously.  What’s the worse that could happen?  
Ok, fine.  If it involves a trampoline or surgery on your face…forget it.  
But if it doesn’t, just one more try.
 
May 2020 be the year of “Just one more try” for each of us.
So what will it be for you?  I’d love to hear it!
 
Happy New Year!