Grisham's Lessons #19 Lost Change

In keeping with his objective of reinforcing sound principles that have application in everyday life, Larry explains how Little Imp came to be renamed Lost Change.

In this scene from Legend of Crystal Cove, The Island Gang has just fought their way to shore near the lighthouse at the mouth of Gig Harbor. The previous twelve hours had been eventful; they snuck out near dark, pushed off from Raft Island Beach, rowed across Henderson Bay, pitched the boat tent offshore from the secluded cove, went adrift while sleeping, woke to learn of their predicament, made their way to a pier to get their bearings, discovered an abandoned mine, entered the mine, witnessed a drug operation, had a narrow escape, missed Hale Passage, tried their best to row into Gig Harbor, were denied by the exit tide, and finally made it to the beach at the lighthouse.

It is then that Gary come comes up with the idea for renaming their boat. His comment is this, “… we just spent a good part of the day lost, which means we’re going to have to change the way we go about this adventure thing.”

Their intentions had been good when they left Raft Island—discover Crystal Cove. However, in their excitement they took several shortcuts—sneaking out on the boat without permission was not the least of these.

Later, in Legend of the Masks, a teaching moment is taking place and Grisham teaches, “… anything worth doing is worthy of investigation.” Having already had the experience above, that brief instruction has greater meaning.

So it is in life, sometimes we get in a hurry and take shortcuts that lead us to undesirable conclusions—putting us in a situation where we have perhaps lost our way. Ultimately we must come to grips with the inappropriate actions and make changes. Without change the likelihood of our situation changing isn’t good. The definition of insanity comes to mind—doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.