I was about seven years old the first time I saw the “The Parent Trap” with the legendary Hayley Mills. A public television special – and rare family supper in the living room watching tv – told me the occasion was a big one, though at the time I had no idea why. A 1961 classic, “The Parent Trap” has charmed little girls for decades, so much so that in 1998, virtual unknown Lindsay Lohan, a fresh-faced twelve-year-old, was tapped for a remake and a whole new generation was hooked.
The story follows two teenagers who meet at a summer camp and discover, despite their best efforts to ignore it, that they are in fact twins, separated when their parents divorced, never knowing a sister even existed. The girls get to know their other half and decide to switch places at the end of the summer in order to learn more about their missing parents.
It all seems so simple, right? I mean, they’re identical twins after all. But nothing is ever as simple as we think and the mixed-up teens quickly find themselves in over their heads when life decides to throw in a few curveballs.
So, too, do we find ourselves in over our heads at times, never more so than when major change is on the horizon. The genesis of any great change is often an even greater disappointment or failure, the likes of which we never want to experience again. And so we resolve to “do something different,” “turn over a new leaf,” or otherwise knock ourselves out. Sounds fun, right?
“Fun” though it may be, this process is the lifeblood of positive change and the story of overcoming obstacles is one we relish as it reminds us that we all struggle along a similar road, striving to match the disparate parts of ourselves into one new whole.
Like Hayley and Lyndsay, we all have multiple sides to our personalities and, if we’re lucky, we’ll continue to be introduced to these ever-evolving parts of ourselves as we go through life. Like the girls, we face challenges as we attempt to introduce these new parts of ourselves in environments programmed to expect the old.
Ready to make a big change? “Not so fast,” life may say, “I remember you, you don’t do things like that.”
But in fact we do, and it is this inner knowledge that we must use to light our way.
Each of us is gifted with potential well beyond what our hearts even know how to desire. We’re given the opportunity of life in which to discover these gifts and to choose for ourselves which to develop and which to let go. But in so choosing we must also choose to withstand the challenges inherent in honing each new skill. And thus is the ultimate conundrum, at what point does the possibility of the new outweigh the challenge we will face in the reaching? At what point are we no longer content with the old and brave beyond our years in going after the new?
Today, I challenge you to listen to your heart’s intent. What new skill is asking to be developed? What skill is waiting to be shared?
Together, we move along on this journey, each contributing our own unique skills to make the journey a safe one. What gift will you offer that our world is waiting to receive?
On the road 
Wonderfully written!
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