Say Yes

If you ever have a chance to feed a giraffe, say yes.

I just did this at a zoo in Florida. 

When I saw the sign that you could feed a giraffe for $5, I said jokingly to my adult son, “Want to feed the giraffes?” 

He shook his head no. 

But then he said, “Do you?” 

And I heard: “I’ll feed them if you will.”

Suddenly, I was all over it. The guy at the booth taking cash said, “The giraffe who’s most likely to come over is walking away, so how about I give you the food and if he takes it, you can pay me after?”

“Sounds like a deal,” I said.

We approached the fence and beckoned the giraffe over with romaine lettuce in our hands. He looked at us. Looked at his giraffe friend. And then he lumbered over.

I held up a leaf, and he bowed down. His purplish-black tongue wrapped around the leaf and touched my hand at the same time. 

It felt wet and a tiny bit rough. 

Giraffe tongue! 

We got some great pictures. I thought, when else in my life am I ever going to touch a giraffe’s tongue?

It got me thinking about saying yes.

How often I might instinctively say no to something at first, but afterwards think, “I should have said yes.”

Do you want to go skydiving?

Do you want to try eating beef tongue?

Do you want to hike a mountain?

Or it could be a small thing. When my dad was at his last nursing home, the staff would ask, “Norman, do you want to go on the field trip out for ice cream?” His split second first response was always “No.” And sometimes they took him for his word.

But my dad loved ice cream! So, we told the staff, “You need to ask him more than once. Ask him and let him sit with it. Wait for his second answer.”

What have you said no-yes to lately? 

As in, something you have never done before and that may have scared you a bit?

Or something your ego wants to say no to, but your spirit wants to say yes?

While I was visiting my son and some friends in Florida, I had a chance to say yes to playing shuffleboard. I had seen several faded boards here and there before, but always assumed it was something old people played when they couldn’t do anything else. 

(I suppose now that’s me, because I could not play beach tennis with my friends—also a new thing—because of tennis elbow.)

Shuffleboard was super fun! 

It took finesse, patience, and restraint….all things I don’t necessarily lead with. But I loved knocking the other pucks (also known as biscuits) out of the way to zero out our opponents’ score. In those moments, I could be aggressive, shove hard, and the biscuits went flying.

Also, the cue was 6-feet-ish long, and I kept almost poking my partner in the eye with it.

There was silliness. We laughed a lot. It was a blast.

While we were in town, we started talking to a woman at a brewery over pints of beer.  She had a woodworking catalog in front of her, and she mentioned she was taking a class.

“I decided every time I came to Florida, I would try something new,” she said. “Now it’s woodworking.” She had also done glass fusion (whatever that is).

The giraffe and the woman inspired me. I’m now looking for my next “no” thing.

It doesn’t have to involve super tall mammals with spots and long tongues. Maybe it’s trying a new food. Another new game like RummiKub that I recently learned how to play. A new form of art. Maybe a new movie I would not typically watch.

How about you?

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