The other morning, my husband and I looked outside our kitchen window and noticed fruit growing on one of the trees. We moved into this house over 6 months ago and just realized we have a fig tree!
Life feels like that for me recently. If I give myself the space to watch and listen to the world around me, I notice the blooms in life. I notice it in my relationships, in my career, in my eating and exercise.
And there’s nothing like a four-year-old to emphasize this phenomenon. I recently described the major, often-congested 101 freeway near our house as “ugly” and my son, Robot, chastised me for using a “bad” word. (There’s a lot of policing around potty /bad/mean words these days!) I tried to argue my point that it was simply a fact that 101 was ugly, it wasn’t a mean thing to say, and that no one would dispute me on this. I mean what elements of beauty could a clogged, urban slab of cement possess?
“No, Mom. 101 is NOT ugly!” he insisted. And then he went on to tell me about the beautiful flowering plants he often saw from his back seat window, the trails of puddles he liked looking at after the recent rains. He imagined blasting through them with his bike like he did the other day on a trail. And later on during the ride, he got excited about the R2-D2 statue he spotted atop one of the buildings.
Once again, the poetic mind and eyes of a four-year-old show me that there is beauty everywhere if you take time to look for it.
Alphabet Scramble 
Nice to see things through the eyes of a child!
Love, from Grandma Mary. 🙂
Thanks, Mom!
What a cute story! This really touched me. Children see so much. I still remember when my son was so excited when he saw a “dactor” (tractor) and, when he was beyond that phase, I’d still point out dactors but they were no big deal then.
Aunt Candy
Cute! So true how they move into new phases (and seem to forget the old ones!)