Through the eyes of a child…

I went out for my daily walk today, chilly, damp but exhilarating.  Up and down the hills I went, about two miles and I stopped at my local Starbucks to grab my dose of a Dopio Machiato, two shots of espresso, a little nonfat milk, foam and a shot of sugar-free vanilla, yum.  As I was sitting there sucking up my drink, I noticed a sign hanging in the window, kind of Christmasy that said ” I wish grownups could remember being kids”.  You know, I have talked about this before and it was a reminder of sorts.  Once in a while, we need reminders.  To be like a kid again, oh yes, the good old, I mean, young days.  There was never any fears, we could run, climb, do all sorts of things with no trepidations. Remember how all the holidays had special feelings associated with them.  Here we have Thanksgiving in a few days and I could remember as a kid how much of a big deal it was.  The smell of the turkey cooking in the oven, the excitement of being around all the relatives and friends, football game on tv in the afternoon.

Sometimes I find holidays missing something these days.  These are times that I miss my family, all are gone now except my brother, Kevin, who lives in NYC.  If you have family now, be grateful, enjoy those moments with them on these holidays coming upon us.  Those moments will be gone forever so make the best of them. Look at everything around you and recall how magical those gatherings were.  Thanksgiving and Christmas for kids are wonderful, I loved and anticipated those holidays the most.

Rox and I will join Mike and Judy with a few of his family members and friends.  I look forward to being with them and am grateful that they are in our lives here in Portland.  I truly miss our friends in San Diego and wish I could gather them all for a big Thanksgiving dinner and tell them how much I love and care for them. I also want to send my love and gratitude to my friends in Florida, a few of them I have shared many holidays with when I was a young whipper snapper.  Oh shit, did I just say whipper snapper?  I sound like an old fart, oh boy.

Going back to that sign in Starbucks, we as grownups have to get off our high horse and relate a bit differently with kids.  We need to get down to their level, maybe that is not the correct term.  Sometimes I feel that they are on a higher level then we are.  This ego that we develop as we grow older has caused so many problems in our lives. We have learned to live in fear, we have lost our imagination and need to get it back.  I remember as a young pup, I would be playing with friends out in the yard, we would take popsicle sticks and make roads in the dirt, we would take our little cars and pretend we were driving all around these roads, what a fun time.  In the winter we would build snow forts and lob snowballs from it at unsuspecting kids, life was good.  We need to get that imagination back, learn to have fun again.

So, remember, if you have children, allow them their imagination, let them be kids, not some puppet that you control.  You all know what I mean, I hope.  When we are running around town and I spot children, it is a wonderful thing to look at their eyes and see how they sparkle, how they look at everything fresh without any expectations of what should be happening in that moment.  We, as grownups, need to remember what it was like to be kids.

I hope that this has been food for thought.  Enjoy your holidays, get that magical feeling back instead of the looking at them as tedious and something that we can’t wait for to end so that we can get back to our mundane lives.  Get that magical feeling again, look at your children, look at their expressions as you go through these holidays.  A good time to start would be Thanksgiving and then Christmas.  Be thankful for all that you have in your life, the love of your children, your family and friends.  You do not know how fortunate that you are coming from someone who does not have much family left.  Kevin, I love you and am grateful that you are in my life although we have not seen each other for quite a few years, Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Bye everybody, see you again soon.