“Hi Daddy! Hang on… Hang on…” (I hear rustling and a moment of silence) “You still there?” “Yeah buddy… I’m here.” “Okay… okay… hang on Daddy just hang on one second…” I hear my oldest say as he seems to be looking for something. “Okay. I’m back. I just needed to set up my talking area” he says. Man… I love this kid. And that was the perfect beginning to an almost perfect 15 minutes… total perfection would have been his brother making an appearance as well but I’ll take what I can get.
The conversation continues and I ask him about his day at school and try to pull some information out by going with the “tell me something super cool you did today and something not so cool you did today.” I find that by using words such as ‘cool’… for whatever reason gets the boys to dig a bit deeper as opposed to just “what did you do today?”. He starts telling me about a project that he did but stops mid-sentence because clearly he has something much more important on his mind that he would like to discuss. “Wait wait Daddy. O-M-G. Guess what we did yesterday?” (O-M-G… again… I love this kid) “What did you do bud?” “Guess… guess!” “Hmmm… did you go to a new park with a huge slide?” I go with. “Nope. We put up our Christmas decorations!” he excitedly proclaims. “That’s awesome bud… I love Christmas decorations. How do they look?” A slight pause… followed by a deep breathe as if this next statement was going to take an emotional toll on him. “They are… Daddy… they are… just… magical.”
I feel the warmness fill my body. Smile appears on my face. Magical…
He went on to tell me all the details about their ‘magical’ decorations but I was left with something for the rest of the week. A gift. I realized that the joy that children wonderfully are able to capture by the “small” things in life is extremely similar to the joy that I am able to feel by equally (seemingly) inconsequential events since I have lived behind these walls. I think it has to do with the fact that once you are stripped of essentially everything in your life… you begin to learn how to live “comfortably” as a minimalist… both in possessions as well as emotionally. And through this minimalistic lifestyle… you have cleared all the ‘stuff’ out of the path of joy so that on a human level… we can experience joy through the things in this life that actually bring us that warm fuzzy feeling. Things like sunrises and sunsets… witnessing compassion and grace through small gestures around us… good phone conversations with loved ones and hearing our kids tell us that their Christmas decorations are “magical”.
And this ability to capture joy in a bottle bleeds into life as well. I found that every morning after our phone call… I woke up feeling just slightly more upbeat… more hopeful… more grateful… more ready to tackle the day. This one word… spoken innocently and genuinely had the ability to make such a significant positive impact on my week. That is a gift that I cannot ever remember being able to recognize prior to this journey. And the fact that I can now grab onto these moments and use them… I am beyond grateful.
As we approach the week of giving thanks…. the week of family gatherings and food and drink and together-ness. I hope you guys are able to clear the path for these “small” moments that have the unbelievable ability to brighten your life. I think this notion of joyous simplicity is especially true during the holiday season. What will provide that genuine smile is just being together… being present… laughing… turning up the tunes and dancing in the kitchen… allowing yourself to experience the moments with the ones that you love and love you back. And stopping long enough to look around and acknowledge the magic that is all around you.
Stay Healthy. Stay Active.
I hope your week is simply…. magical.