Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Added: February 4, 2010 | Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Running a water park in Missouri is a curious way to earn a living, for lots of reasons.
One of the more spicy elements to the job is the fact that our success depends, more than anything else, on something wholly beyond our control. I refer, of course, to the weather.
There’s an old saying in Missouri that if you don’t like the weather, just wait five minutes, but in the past few years that hasn’t done us much good. We’ve had two of the wettest, coldest summers since records began. We’re due a scorcher, that’s for sure.
And here’s the funny thing. Deep in our hearts, we know that at some point over the season it’s going to rain and get yucky. We know we’ll have to issue rainchecks to our guests and console upset kids who were looking forward to a few more hours of fun. But still, right now, in February, I operate on the assumption or belief that we will have beautiful, sunny days for three months straight. It takes some mental gymnastics to believe in something that you know isn’t really true, but I’ve had a lot of practice. This leap of faith is akin to believing in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, and the Tooth Fairy all rolled into one. In Alice in Wonderland the Queen of Hearts boasted about believing six impossible things before breakfast. She should come and work for us.
Anyway, with a bit of luck we will have those three months of hot sunshine, and I’ll look back on this post, and… oh. There I go again.
