The Magic in Everyday

I like to think I have maintained some of my childhood wonder. I still giggle at silly jokes, I still love to play hide-and-seek and I still jump whenever someone touches my feet. But, experiencing everyday, ordinary occurrences through Anna Cate's eyes shows me how much I have lost in the whole "growing up" process.

Take for instance, the class field trip that I chaperoned yesterday. We rode on a big yellow school bus. To me, it was loud and bumpy. Anna Cate and her friend spent most of the ride peeking over the seat in front of them so that they could see themselves in the driver's mirror, laughing the entire time. Then there was the squirrel. We're waiting in line to ride the train and there are 15 children lined up along the rope watching, what looked to me, to be a common grey squirrel. As we stopped to watch the elephants, I called AC over to look and she yelled back, "Just a minute, Mom, I almost caught this bird." But, the biggest smile and deepest laugh I heard all day came when she and the other children were running and chasing one another around. Nevermind the lions, or the wallabys, or the spider monkey, she laughed hardest when a classmate almost tagged her and she barely escaped by running in the opposite direction. Finally, as we were waiting for the other groups to gather so that we may leave, we made the mistake of standing near a pond filled with koi. Before we knew it, our group of children were laying on the rocks watching the fish. As other groups joined us, every child managed to find a place to lean over so that they were almost nose to nose with the fish. One mom looked at me and started to suggest that we move the children at the exact moment that Anna Cate got the great idea to throw some popcorn in the pond as food for the fish. Another round of giggles and excitement ran through the rest of the group. The mom just looked at me and said, "Well, next time we come, if the fish are dead, we'll know not to let our children feed them popcorn".

Sometimes, I think we try to fill our child's life with these "big" moments, we try to give her all these wonderful memories of "cool" experiences. And, maybe, what she really needs is for us to just stop and appreciate the small, ordinary things that she most enjoys. In doing so, maybe we can rediscover some of the wonder we once had, too. So, I'm including a picture of Anna Cate's big success of the week - her sprouting plants. To me, they just look like weeds, but to her, they are something she has created and provided for...which really is pretty exciting!