When The Target is Not the Goal

Dear Daughter,

When we were up in the mountains at the cabin, we shot arrows with your new bow. Remember last year when we were here and you were too small to shoot arrows and you learned how to be a patient quiver instead?

This year you are big enough and strong enough to pull the bow by yourself.

You began to get frustrated though because the arrows were not going as far as Papa's. However, I told you that the goal was not to hit the target, but to keep practicing and learn how to shoot. One day you will be hitting the target if you practice patiently.

Each time, your arrow went a bit further and you began to be able to load the arrow and steady yourself on your own. That, indeed was the Goal.

I Love You,
Papa

Zen and the Art of Being A Quiver

Papa helped teach Emma how to shoot a bow and arrow yesterday and today. She was very good, and you and Ford asked if you could try. I asked each of you to be one of our "living quivers" and to hold our arrows as we practiced with the bows that were to big for little kids. However, you and Ford were a very important part of the process, retrieving the arrows and holding them for us and handing them to us as well. Most important, you learned how important it is to be patient while someone else is learning something new and that although you did not get to shoot the arrow today, you were still part of the experience.