At dinner tonight we were talking about the mail. Lauren asked me how the mail gets to our house. So I explained how the mail man comes through the neighborhood and gathers the mail, then he takes it back to the post office etc. etc. etc. She looked at me like she was a little confused, so I asked her "does that make sense to you?". She said to me "really???? That's how the mail gets here? I thought that when you put it in the things with the holes (mail boxes) that there were holes on the other end that the mail went through and then there were eyes in there that read the mail and sent it down about a thousand different tubes and the mail came to your house that way". I was laughing so hard. That kid makes me smile every single day. These are the moments that I treasure, sitting around the dinner table as a family, and talking about life, how things work and hearing their version of how things work, there little minds amaze me and I wish I had just a fraction of their creativity and imagination.
At the girls Christmas program this year there was a song called "Christmas through the eyes of a child" and I thought of that today. I sometimes wish that I could see the world through the eyes of a child. Where all is good, and life is just about having fun, playing hard, snacks and laughter. It puts things into perspective when we get so wrapped up in our daily lives and stressors that we forget to sit back and enjoy the ride. Our time here on Earth is just a moment compared to our eternal life in Heaven and that we need to live in the moment, not in the what ifs, and what could have beens.
I had lunch with a very good friend of mine the other day (Melissa Gourley) and we just talked the afternoon away. But we were talking about how some parents and neighbors get so caught up in competition and possessions and it can be easy to fall into that trap and when it comes down to it... I get to stay home with my kids, volunteer at school, work 20 hours a week taking care of patients and just how blessed I am for that. I will never regret taking this time with the girls even if it means my carpet is dirty, my window coverings are paper and the house needs to be updated.... those will all come in time and in the grand scheme of things, are just not that important. Don't get me wrong.... I REALLY want new floors etc... but if it has to wait because I am only working part time than it has to wait. I know that in twenty years from now, I won't remember that I needed the new floors, I will remember how blessed I was that I had all that time with the girls while they were young and loved to snuggle and read me books, the pure joy in their eyes with every accomplishment they make, and I got to see it all. That, I won't regret for a minute. But working fifty hours a week and putting them in before and after daycare, would make me sad. And it's not a judgement on those that have to do that, it's just that for me, personally, I would feel like I missed it all.
WHEW, my quick little story about Lauren's mail theory turned into a full out soul search I guess. Let the madness of another week begin! Peace.
