Life's Questions

I was involved in a discussion group the other day where the question, "What do you miss most from your childhood?" was asked. Before continuing to read, take a moment to think about your own answer....

For me the answer came fast and furious as if this one word had been holding it's breath just waiting to shout from the rooftops.  My answer was/is simplicity. My fondest memories are the most simple things I participated in with my family and my neighbors...flashlight tag, Wiffle Ball games, catching lightening bugs, running around outside AFTER my bath in my nightgown! How scandalous! My favorite trips with my family were camping. I loved loading up the station wagon and pop-up camper at a moments notice to enjoy a weekend in the woods. Campfire chats, my Mom's sing-a-longs, picking blueberries for the pancakes Dad was making, the smell of coffee, the sound of my parents voices around the campfire while I was falling asleep in the camper.  We would spend two weeks at the shore every other summer. Do people even take two weeks vacation anymore? I loved those trips too, all day running on the sand, swimming in the ocean, avoiding jelly fish. Playing Bingo at night with my Aunt calling the numbers. I remember exactly the moment I won my first dollar playing Bingo! I guess you could say there was some Utopian charm to my childhood. But mostly, it was simple. There were moments each day to breath, dream, play, pray, laugh, cry. 

I have felt this eagerness almost like an unsettling nudge, inside me for quite a while. I couldn't but my finger on what it was until the word simplicity. Sometimes I feel like my children are missing out on simplicity. I began to realize I was already making unconscious efforts to capture this simplicity for my children, to slow down the schedule. Our summer was spent lazing around, reading, playing games, exploring. I have been fortunate to be home a lot with my children since James was 1 but for the first time I feel like I am truly taking the time to be present with them. We all got lost in the running, scheduling, texting, instagramming...

I've decide to take back simplicity, to teach my children what it means to just be. Each day finding time to breath, dream, play, pray, laugh and even cry when needed! This week, we are going camping for five days. Five whole days in nature, listening to the sounds of the wind, birds, bugs, hiking, sitting by the fire, sleeping on the ground in our tent, just being together. The excitement we all feel for this trip is palpable. It's the same excitement we have for our beach trips, and our Disney adventure. Self study is teaching me that we don't need a lot...we just need time together, presence and love. 

Namaste My Dear Friends.

Inspirational Thought/Tidbits for and about Life

Today's post reminded me of this quote from Henry David Thoreau, which ironically I used as my senior quote in my high school yearbook. I guess I've come full circle...

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life..."

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