Evotional.com - Mark Batterson

My mom and dad are in town this weekend so we stayed up talking about our family. So cool to hear stories about my grandparents and great-grandparents.

I love counterfactual theory--the branch of history that asks the what if questions. Here is a Batterson family counterfactual: what if my great-grandfather hadn't promised my grandma a pair of roller skates when she was deathly sick?

My grandma had rheumatic fever as a young girl. She almost died. But when she was in a near-comatose state her dad, my great-grandfather, whispered in her ear that if she got well he'd buy her a pair of roller skates. He didn't even know if she heard him, but my grandma said that promise is what motivated her to get better. I'm not sure if the promise of roller skates was the difference between life and death, but who knows!

When my grandma got better my great-grandfather delivered on his promise. He bought her those roller skates and taught her how to skate pulling her around with a rope.

I don't want to over-dramatize things, but I may owe my existence to a pair of roller skates.

What if?