It’s so easy to miss the little stuff. It was a normal but busy day today, not much to write home about. At the end of it all (homeschooling times four, my husband doing his first full day of video visits since his eye injury and seeing a full caseload, thus exhausting and fatiguing his throbbing injured/healing eye), my husband and I decided to get outside and take an early evening walk with our five year old. (The other three kids were mid-play with their besties and opted to do that instead, another first in our family life… always, we do things together… yet another season nearing it’s end….sigh). The sun was dropping in the sky. Slowly, we walked. Such a gift it was, really, watching the actual glee erupt on our baby, our kindergartener’s face, just to walk with us. To hold our hands. To chase and be chased. The simple joy and happiness she exudes, just having a few extra minutes alone with us is palpable. Such a reminder for all of us to find whatever it is in life that fills us up, overflows our cup….and then sit back and watch the energy that it delivers to you… it is out there for us. This really was one of my aims with this personal challenge, and one I hope some of you out there accepted over the course of this last month… To remember your childlike wonder, awaken your buried joys, unearth the unbridled glee that lives within each of us, but remains so often abandoned, secondary to stress, anger, to-do’s. Such a simple thing to do, and such a generous gift to each of our individual spirits. No one on this planet can remind you who you are. It’s something we are each called to sit with, if we heed the call. To be still with. To listen for. It’s in you. Acknowledge that the whispers are there…. And dance. Sing. Organize. Create. Run. Listen. Read. It’s all there for you. Let your energy return to your center… just by doing the simple, easy, beautiful thing. Carve out the time. It will pay dividends.
Upon returning home, we gathered the kids round and we had a first showing of the movie The Goonies. This movie aired in 1985 and was rated PG. I grew up going to a Catholic school and I’m pretty sure I watched Disney movies until I was 13 (except License to Drive…that was PG-13 and I watched it when I was 10, when my best friend’s mom, a former nun turned amazing and hilarious wife and mother, called my mom and promised the movie was safe). I don’t think I watched The Goonies till my 20s (I know, I know, fellow ‘80s babies….total tragedy!) BUT, getting to watch my kids belly laugh at Chunk and clutch my arms as the Fratellis were hot on their tails…. Ohhhh it was a treat. I repeatedly reminded them about language and hope the rest went over at least some of their heads… but pirate treasures and young love and Italian mobsters and ancient maps and Sloth and “Hey you guys!” and Data and Booty traps…. Ohhhh it was just too good. Wonder. Simple. Nothing fancy. But experiencing and observing wonder. It’s cheap thrills. Seek it. What a treat. Grateful today, for walks and family movie nights.
Care to share your thoughts?