BB2ME #12 — My father’s advice for dealing with losing

I stood in front of my father crying. I was upset. It was not a pretty scene.

I lost a swimming race that I should have won. I was embarrassed.

My poor dad had suffered through a long swimming meet to watch me bomb a race badly. In fact, I did not even place in the top three.

I finished dead ass last. I was ten years old. I was a hot mess and needed help.

My dad did not get emotional

My father did not get upset. Instead, my dad wrapped his arms around me and whispered into my ear, “some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you”.

It was the first time I heard this saying. I did not know at all what it meant but was somehow comforted and stopped crying.

I thought he might yell at me for swimming so slow. He never did. Never.

Why I wrote this billboard

My dad sat through hundreds of swim meets and soccer games during my youth. Both my brother and I played these sports for over a decade.