| I always have an agenda. I always have a hundred and sixty four things on my never-shrinking to-do list. I have post-its all over my home to remind me of my to-do lists. And I am perpetually in a hurry to get everything done and I hate to wait. Or move slowly.
Enter a three year old. A three year old does not understand my agenda and surely sees no purpose in checking items off a list. His whole purpose at this point in life is to make sense of the world around him and has to literally get down on the ground to touch, look at, smell, and feel that world. As adults we have been conditioned to filter out all of those little things around us that we see on a regular basis, even if those things are beautiful and interesting. I believe that one of the greatest gifts my child has given me is to teach me to (sometimes) slow down, see the beautiful world around me, and to enjoy little moments instead of just bustling by them so that I can get to my next “check mark.” Instead of always thinking about just the destination, he reminds me every day to appreciate the journey. And this is how we turned a five block walk to the bookstore into a two hour adventure. There is a lot to do and see in the course of five blocks… We stop to pick up leaves, we count them, we name them, we look to see which big trees they came from. We run them through the sprinklers so they can have a bath. We notice how the water droplets look on the flowers and on the blades of grass.
  We climb sideways across spaces in a very long fence. We concentrate on not slipping.
 We look at the bugs on the ground. We are brave and we touch them. We wonder where their mama might be. We stop to watch a fluffy squirrel up in a tree. We do not touch him. But we wonder where his mama might be too. Then we practice walking on the “balance beam.”
 We put our feet in a fountain and love how the cold water feels after our long walk. We also count all the water spouts as we walk around them. And we look up in awe at the great big sky.
And after all of this, we reach our destination. We are excited to read as many books as we can:
“Mommy, can I take all these books home?” I have a weakness for books- both for myself and for my child. I would like to buy him all the books his little arms can carry. And with that we begin our journey back home, carrying our books along the way, and once again stopping to look at everything around us. I belive this is what an awesome day looks like. Thanks little buddy for showing me the way! |
This one made me tear up a little! I can’t wait until my son takes ME for a walk 🙂 Thanks for sharing such a beautiful, precious moment. xo
Julia, I loved reading this and so glad I got to spend some playtime with Conner the other night. He’s a very neat kid with awesome parents! 🙂
Beautiful shots and beautiful words. We are so lucky he is such a part of our lives. John and Alice
It’s so clear what a very special person he is..we can all learn from him. It’s aso obvious that one of your next moves needs to be a book. You are so talented! Thanks for the venue of keeping connected. Miss you.