Some of you have already heard part of this story, but others havent so you get to hear it again. Joy!

I was speaking with my older nephew on the telephone and he was telling me what he would like for his upcoming birthday (6). So I say, "OK, got it, liquor and fireworks."

He tried to repeat this for his mom and dad but being 6, he didnt really have a firm grasp of "liquor" so he kept saying, "Uncle Chris is gonna get me licorice and fireworks for my birthday."

Eventually my brother figured out what I ws saying and he picks up and says, "No more unsupervised telephone calls between you and Emmett."

WTF?!? Is that not a slap in the face? To speak this way to his own brother?

So my backup plan if liquor and fireworks didnt work out was a BB gun, naturally. I mean its so obvious.

But yesterday I was over assisting in the senior care at mom's and my "step aunt" Jean pointed out that I was just getting all tied up by my tired conventional thinking. I was trapped "in the box", and what was needed here was a total paradigm shift.

Using creative out of the box thinking, Jean was able to revolutionize the "gifts for 6 year olds space" by pointing out that my backup plan was totally inadequate.

What was really needed if liquor and fireworks wasnt working out wasnt just a BB gun, but a BB gun AND a copy of Hustler magazine. (El Hustlero in Spanish, huge ups if you know that reference)

I was like I had been shot with a diamond bullet when I realized the brilliance of that.

It really just drives home that by pairing two or more "Uncle Wins" you can achieve a synergistic creativity exceeding the power of a single Uncle Win by several orders.