Walking down the road the other day my neighbor stopped to say hello. We commented on how we have not had much of a summer and how we had no idea what was going on in each others lives. We decided we needed some sort of a news letter, jokingly of course we said that he should write it, he responded “I am not the writer, you are”. I felt like looking behind me to see who he was talking to. Oh yeah, it was me, I like to write and in some circles I used to be known as the ever mysterious “writer”, a title I was always intimidated by, yet oddly drawn to. Well, grateful for the reminder that I do love to write, and for the boost of confidence that I can.
The last few weeks I have had my nieces for a week each, a gift in my life, also a reminder just how quick childhood flies by, not necessarily for the child, but for the hearts that surround that little human. These two are amazing, my sister is an outstanding mother, plus they have had all of us surrounding them with opinions, facts, jokes, and the occasional reprimand for their own good. I look at them and am shocked that just twenty years ago that was me, getting to know the world, hell that is me now.
They look at the world with such fresh eyes and each time I am around them I too change my perspective, a theory I have been working on for some time. Today my father in law said “She is so full of life, it makes you feel younger just being near her”. It does. I believe that children do make you see the earth in a much healthier way. It is all of a sudden fun to jump up and down for no reason, not to lose weight, just for fun? Opening yourself to just the idea that everything doesn’t need a reason, purpose, or end result, it can just be.
So, a warning, I plan to jump up and down for no reason from here on out! So if you see a crazy person on the sidewalk jumping, don’t think anything of it. It is just me, getting a grip.
I think that when we go through the “growing up process” we will commonly dispose of the quality that makes people great, our ability to look at each day like it is one of our firsts, to see things that are not there yet, to use our imagination.
“Owning a horse is simple, I will just win the lottery”, well, it probably statistically is not that easy, but it is much easier to have the carefree “matter of factness” that children often possess. What does that hurt? So often we are so afraid that our children will be disappointed that we slam down these thoughts, true or untrue on the ease of winning the lottery, why do we choose to forfeit dreams to avoid disappointment?
I can see if they refuse to do school work because they “plan” to win the lottery, or be a pro football player when they are scrawny, then you step into action, I am saying for the extras, the things that we know as adults are not critical, like a horse, a pool, the go cart, what ever it is. Stop avoiding disappointment, you will only be disappointed. Your child will eventually be afraid of disappointment and make their life choices accordingly. Yuck, more sheep, that is NOT what we need.
Do you ever just sit there and day dream? What would it hurt if you did? Why not?
My heart is with you on your journey,
Lizzy
Leave a Reply