“Mom, can we get these drinks?” he asked while holding up the bottles of bright green and blue fluid.

“What even is that?” I asked while wondering how something that color would taste good.

He went on to describe the drink and where he had heard about it. I knew there was a good chance that he actually wouldn’t like the drink but agreed to get it anyway.

He handed one to each brother and within minutes they brought their drinks back out telling me how they didn’t actually like the drinks. My son apologized for having me buy it when he didn’t enjoy it. We went on to have a conversation about how in life you need to be willing to try new things and step outside of your comfort zone to learn about yourself and what you actually enjoy. I picked up the drink to try it and realized that there was a clear ball rolling around the top of the drink.

“What is in the drink?” I asked while holding the bottle up to the light to look at it.

“Oh, it is a marble” he said as he left the room.

I took a sip of the drink but didn’t enjoy it. Moments later, I tried the other flavor. I went to put the drink down only to realize that I had been so forceful in the way that I was drinking that I had sucked the marble into the top of the drink. I paused and looked at the drink reflecting about the drink, and life in general. I am a kinesthetic learner and whenever I do something physically I understand it much more deeply than if I just see or hear it. I stood staring at the bottle and then heard my partner laughing. I looked over to realize that he was laughing at me.

“Did you really just suck that marble into the top of the drink?” he asked.

“Yes” I said while wrinkling up my nose at him.

“You are so forceful in the way that you drink from a bottle” he said.

I put the drink down and thought to myself…… maybe I can be too forceful in everything in life. Maybe, I should try to move through the world in a more gentle way.