After spending a couple of hours at the rocky northern Californian coast with my niece, I was amazed at her wonder of being outdoors, in such a wild composition and the awe with which this young child embraced every experience. Every rock needed to be patted and every wave watched. She ogled the birds and the flowers. She squealed in giggly glee at the creeping curled legs of the hermit crabs and oohed over the rough skin of the starfish.
Watching her play and gape and wonder (and wander!) was exhilarating. In some ways I felt like she was showing me how to experience the world again. How to laugh. How to cry and recover when told NO!. How to touch the world and absorb it. How to encounter something and be fascinated by whatever it was.
Somehow watching her learn to love the world she encounters reminded me that I need to love it too. Maybe I did. Maybe I forgot in my rush and bustle. Maybe, in some ways, I never learned.
And perhaps now is the time to learn.
3 comments:
I so know what you mean about children and their ability to experience everything! I was at the park the other day with a friend of mine and her 14 month old daughter. I remember mentioning how great it would be to experience the pure joy of being on the swings like it was when I was a kid. The swings are still fun, but not the pure joy of childhood. I wish I knew how to go back and recapture the innocence and wonder of childhood.
I like the new look! Huzzah for the Word of the Day widget. I have the Chinese one!
loved it.
Post a Comment