On Connecting the Dots
- Anna Maria De Guid
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
Have you ever played "Connect the Dots"?
It used to be a game I played as a child, but lately, I’ve been thinking about what it means in real life.
It started on a lazy Sunday morning, the kind of quiet Sunday I used to take for granted until our youngest son, Josh, started his candy-making venture. Since then, Sundays (and pretty much the whole week!) have been filled with the madness of running a small business.
A few months back, my husband and I were reflecting on his journey, and we suddenly realized how many "dots" in his life were pointing to this moment all along.
As a toddler, Josh was a total cutie pie (as all toddlers are), but he was also a little stubborn. If he didn't want to do something, you had a fight on your hands. He especially hated taking medicine, and no amount of pleading worked.
One evening, after a lengthy round of cajoling, I promised him something exciting if he took his dose. After he swallowed his medicine, I sprinkled a dash of regular sugar right on his tongue. His eyes stretched as wide as they could go, followed by the biggest, brightest smile! From that night on, medicine was never an issue again.
Fast forward two decades. We moved into an older home, renovated it, expanded the kitchen with a huge island, and built an ADU (an additional dwelling unit) in the backyard.
Around that time, our second son gifted Josh a copycat version of his favorite treat, Altoid Sours, which had been discontinued for over a decade. Josh's eyes lit up just like they did when he was a toddler. He tasted it and said, "I can make this."
Within weeks, he was experimenting with recipes to recreate those legendary sour drops. Our new kitchen island gave him the exact space he needed to prep, and that backyard ADU? It turned out to be the perfect place to store his packing supplies!
One evening, he burst out of his room, beaming: "I sold one tin!"
That was a year ago. Today, he manufactures and ships his candy to all 50 states, constantly testing new flavors and building his brand.
Looking back, the trail of clues has been there. It reminds me of Steve Jobs’s famous 2005 Stanford commencement speech, where he said, "You can't connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward."
None of us know what God has in store for Josh in the coming years. But for now, candy-making is a sweet (and sour) part of his journey.
Looking at your life... can you see any dots connecting?
My name's Anna Maria, and I share videos on YouTube's Touched by Grace Today and post on my blog touchedbygrace.today every other week! Check out Catholicmom.com for my other articles! If you've been #tbgtoday, feel free to share your story of grace here.
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