Details matter.

Each and Every January, middle-aged adults gather in the woods of Pennsylvania…

And this time…. I brought with me a cheap plastic sled. You know - the orange ones with the yellow cord kids used thirty-odd years ago.

Wait - you brought a sled on a hiking trip?

To be clear, this annual hiking trip is more about hanging out in the woods with a bunch of friends, usually in the coldest month of the year (January), and the coldest weekend (Martin Luther King, Jr. Day-ish) and overnight at Oil Creek State Park. Because, well why not. Gotta have a hobby, right?

And in north-western Pennsylvania, our weather is usually pretty cold, windy, snowy, icy, rainy - you name it - anything but warm, and that’s what it is. We all cram into a shelter together to stay warm and talk about not being cold. Add party lights and some not-state-park-approved-beverages for the win.

The volunteers do a fantastic job of keeping split firewood (for a donation) near the shelters, and hauling enough firewood over with enough wood to keep us warm through the night is often an agonizing chore.

Hence the cheap, plastic, orange sled.

And the sled worked out fantastically for hauling wood.

But there was no way I was going to bring a sled and not ride down the access road from the paring lot.

Yes, most of us are in our 40s and 50s - myself included - but I decided we needed to ‘act our shoe size’ (sorry Prince) instead of our actual age, and take the sled for a spin.

ToeSock Outdoors was kind enough to compile everyone’s video, and in our group text, as someone quipped - the ‘Mis-Adventures of Jamie Linder’ were caught on film, and we let the shenanigans begin. Sled-riding Evidence.

Some of the group had fancy drones and we got some great aerial shots of the lack-luster sled skills. Others used cell phones, someone gave me a much-needed boost (the snow was pretty fresh and the hill was not as steep as the sled required), and eventually I made it down the hill. A good time was had by all!

And as I repeatedly attempted to slide down the hill in this cheap-plastic-orange-sled in the fresh snow, my well-behaved ‘adult’ friends all laughed along with me. For effect, I dramatically fell upside down and backward, with my feet in the air, rolling in the snow. You know - full on Charlie Chaplin / Buster Keaton style.

We all got QUITE a few chuckles out of it - and I think it was in no small part due to the details.

Jamie (I hear you ask), what does this have to do with ‘Details’?

And….we have arrived.

Feet in the air.

I didn’t need to toss my feet in the air, and somersault dramatically - not at ‘age 44’. But by doing so, I gave my friends all a good laugh. And quite frankly - me too. And those laughs were very warm, on a day when the high-temperature reached a balmy twenty-four degrees below freezing.

Like Donald O’Conner in ‘Singing in the Rain’ - one of my all-time favorite retro-movies, there’s something about a laugh that can truly bring joy.

Somewhere in my subconscious, I knew that ‘cautiously, normal’ sledding wasn’t going to get laughs, and I wanted everyone to have fun with this - even if they didn’t want to try. And I knew, that giving a natural-looking, but exaggerated toss of the feet in the air would be the detail that mattered.

Practical application.

Details can be used in any scenario, situation or moment in time to amplify that moment. When speaking with your kids, spouse, family, friends, co-workers, strangers in the coffee shop, pets, plants…. the opportunity is endless.

I sit here reflecting on where details show up, and where are they truly important. Things that immediately spring to mind include craftsmanship, creativity, strategy, emotional management… and that list goes on. Maybe the better question is ‘When aren’t they important?’

This attention to detail can make or break us, and it is an opportunity for us to be intentional. Which details to ignore, which details to curate. Which details matter, which details don’t.