The Juggling Gene

I remember it like it was yesterday…

We were all hanging out in the kitchen, and our mom was making dinner when my brother Ron announced that he had learned how to juggle. He proceeded to demonstrate and entertain us with three oranges pulled from the fruit bowl.

It was so fun to see him juggle! “Hey! How’d you learn to do that?!?!” the other siblings exclaimed as he reveled in the spotlight.

Then he had the bright idea to juggle eggs.

“Don’t you do it, Ronnie!” Mom called over her shoulder.

“Aw, it’s ok, Mom! I can do it! Watch…”

Three sibs watched in amazement as the eggs went round and round - all the while Mom was in the background saying, “Ronnie…put those down…Ronnieeeee…”

“Look, Mom!” he answered, “I’m doing it!”

Round and round went the eggs...

And then -splat!- just as Mom predicted, Ron missed one of the eggs he’d been juggling. And to make it an even bigger mess, the egg fell right onto one of the burners of the kitchen stove.

“You’re cleaning that up!” Mom said, and the four of us roared with laughter. Haha – our poor mother.

#15 - a juggler

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Years later when I had entered the corporate world, I attended a team building meeting with my coworkers. At the beginning of the day, we were each gifted with a pretty wooden box. Opening the box revealed three juggling balls inside, and then the assignment was announced. We would each learn how to juggle, and the requirement was that we had to toss and catch the balls at least five times in a row in order to move on. How hard could that be? Right?

Some of my coworkers caught on right away, and the team building part of the exercise was that those who mastered the art of juggling had to help the rest of the group that was still struggling.

Well, wouldn't you know, I was the very last person to finally toss and catch those freaking balls five times. I bent over and picked up juggling balls so many times that my muscles were so sore the following day I could barely walk. And I haven’t touched a juggling ball since!

Obviously, Ron got all the juggling genes.
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I know, it's kind of weird that the only photo I have of my brother juggling was in his hotel room while our families were together in San Diego, but it's the only one I took so I'm using it as item #15 for Rinda’s Summertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. We spent some time in my brother's hotel room while tending to this little peach, my four-month niece, Olivia. Here she is, watching her daddy juggle.  :o)♥