Yesterday, my daughter Jade, my son Heron, and I went over to my parents house to play outside for a bit; as they have a woods, a crystal-clear, winding branch, and perhaps most importantly in Jade's eyes, a tree house.
The sky was brilliantly blue. Fields were wavy green. Tree buds exploded everywhere. Birds were jamming in the treetops. It was sweatshirt weather....not too hot, not too cold...a great day to lie in the grass and observe absolutely nothing but your own imagination.
Of course with a 1 and 1/2 year old and an almost 3 year old, my observations of the imagination were limited to about a minute per year of age....I almost made it to five. Regardless, hanging with the kids is a constant rebirth if you will. We hung out in the tree fort, bounced on the trampoline, made helicopters out of maple buds, dug a hole, filled in a hole, swung, ran aimlessly at high speeds, ate goldfish, waved to an airplane, got chased by a puppy, hid from mom-mom, and played tractors. All of this was completed in about a half-an-hour.
The sky was brilliantly blue. Fields were wavy green. Tree buds exploded everywhere. Birds were jamming in the treetops. It was sweatshirt weather....not too hot, not too cold...a great day to lie in the grass and observe absolutely nothing but your own imagination.
Of course with a 1 and 1/2 year old and an almost 3 year old, my observations of the imagination were limited to about a minute per year of age....I almost made it to five. Regardless, hanging with the kids is a constant rebirth if you will. We hung out in the tree fort, bounced on the trampoline, made helicopters out of maple buds, dug a hole, filled in a hole, swung, ran aimlessly at high speeds, ate goldfish, waved to an airplane, got chased by a puppy, hid from mom-mom, and played tractors. All of this was completed in about a half-an-hour.
Jade found a part of an old bird ID book in the tree fort. I can remember this exact book from when I was only a tad bigger than she. She was holding maybe 1/4 of the actual book. There was no cover. A few pages in the middle were hanging loosely. The pages were faded from exposure to the elements. She turned to me as we walked towards the pond, and she said, "Dad, this is a good book."
"This is a good book." She said it with 100% percent seriousness. She wholeheartedly felt that her 1/4 of a book was perfect. She was excited to show me every page.
She made me think about two things. One is consumption. From now on before I think that I need something, I am going to say to myself..."this is a good_____." Then I am going to ask myself if it really needs replacing...most likely it'll still serve its purpose just fine.
The other thing that Jade taught me again for the thousandth time in her young life is that amazement abounds. Everything is amazing; sometimes it just takes looking at it from a different angle (perhaps from 3 feet high instead of 6'4").
"This is a good book." She said it with 100% percent seriousness. She wholeheartedly felt that her 1/4 of a book was perfect. She was excited to show me every page.
She made me think about two things. One is consumption. From now on before I think that I need something, I am going to say to myself..."this is a good_____." Then I am going to ask myself if it really needs replacing...most likely it'll still serve its purpose just fine.
The other thing that Jade taught me again for the thousandth time in her young life is that amazement abounds. Everything is amazing; sometimes it just takes looking at it from a different angle (perhaps from 3 feet high instead of 6'4").
Oh the wisdom of children.
"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh
Look, listen, feel, enjoy,
Ostrich
"People usually consider walking on water or in thin air a miracle. But I think the real miracle is not to walk either on water or in thin air, but to walk on earth. Every day we are engaged in a miracle which we don't even recognize: a blue sky, white clouds, green leaves, the black, curious eyes of a child -- our own two eyes. All is a miracle." Thich Nhat Hanh
Look, listen, feel, enjoy,
Ostrich
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