In keeping with the spirit of the autumn season, I decided to take my 10-year old niece to a corn maze. You know, one of those gigantic cornfields where they carve miles of twisting, turning paths; sometimes referred to as a ‘maize maze.’
I thought navigating through a corn maze on a crisp autumn day sounded like fun and when I discussed the idea with my niece she was excited about it.
It was a warm, sunny Saturday morning when we arrived at the cornfield – it was certainly bigger than I expected it to be.
A farmer sold us tickets, explained that we were not allowed to cut through the cornstalks and asked if we had any questions.
“Has anyone ever not come out?” I asked.
“Don’t worry,” the farmer told us. “If you get lost, we’ll send someone to rescue you.”
My niece grabbed my hand and we headed through the arched entryway into the maze.
Within a few steps we were completely surrounded by cornstalks; I’d never seen so much corn. It was a bit overwhelming.
We followed the path, turned a corner and walked along another path. We twisted and turned; I think we might have doubled back, but it was difficult to tell since all cornstalks look alike to me. I was completely disoriented.
The weather was warm and we took off our sweaters and carried them.
“Can you tie the sleeves of my sweater around my neck like a cape,” my niece asked.
“No,” I shook my head. “You don’t want to drop it in this place; we’ll never find it again.”
We continued along another trail.
Over a loudspeaker the farmer announced: “Congratulations to the Cub Scout group! They finished in 58 minutes!”
I rolled my eyes. Someone had spent almost an hour wandering around this place? How long would it take us to get out?
We followed another path that I swore we had already traveled twice before.
“Hey, look, Uncle David.” My niece held a vibrant scarlet leaf in her hand. “It’s a maple leaf. I wonder how a maple leaf got in the middle of a cornfield.”
I scowled at her. “Unless there’s a map of this maze on that leaf, put it down and help me find our way out.”
She sighed, dropped the leaf and followed me around a corner.
The farmer sounded off on the loudspeaker again. “Congratulations to the Youth Group. They solved the maze in 49 minutes.”
It seemed like hours since we had entered the maze, but were no closer to locating the exit. We found a water station where I collapsed onto a wooden bench and had a drink of cold water.
In front of us were three paths, one left, one right, one straight ahead.
I pointed to the path on the left. “I think that will be the quickest way out.”
My niece shrugged. “Whatever.”
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she said. “I just thought this corn maze thing was supposed to be fun.”
“You’re not having fun?” I asked.
“All you want to do is get out,” said my niece. “This maze is cool, but you don’t even care. You’re making this seem like a race.”
It hit me like a slap in the face. I was so focused on finding a way out, finishing the activity, getting it over with, that I forgot about having fun.
What did it matter how long it took? Who cared how long we wandered? The worst that could happen is the farmer would eventually come rescue us. I needed to remember that what was important is that we were doing something together – we should be having fun.
“You’re right,” I said. “The first thing we should do is try to find that red leaf again. How did a maple leaf get in the middle of a corn field?”
“We might get lost.”
I smiled. “We’ve been lost the whole time anyway.”
We headed off along another path and eventually did find our way out of the maze. It took us an hour and fifty-five minutes, but we did it. And we had fun.
I just needed a reminder that when spending time with a kid, don’t always focus on the end product. Relax, have fun, enjoy the process – and don’t forget to stop and pick up a bright red maple leaf once in a while.
By David Hill
