King of the Mountain!
It’s funny how a different setting doesn’t change the person you are. You may think it might, but you bring your habits with you. Once the newness wears off a bit, you go back to doing things the way you always have; unless you make a conscious choice to change.
I’m a doer, and sometimes I am so busy doing that I forget to look at the world around me – even when it is so beautiful. The other day, I was working in the front yard with Lyra. “Mommy, let’s go look at the river,” she suggested.
“I’m trying to get this done, sweetheart. Why don’t you go look?” I said without looking up.
“No, I want you to come with me,” she insisted. Finally, I did. We sat on the edge of the bank behind our house, and looked at the river, at the color on the hills behind it. We talked about going swimming in the summertime. After a few minutes, we walked back to Dave and Sue’s house for lunch. “Thanks for coming with me, Mom,” said Lyra.
In the spirit of Just Being, I packed a picnic lunch today and we took it down to the river. It was so warm and beautiful, it would have been a sin to eat indoors. Lyra and Marley took off their socks and shoes, and waded in a little pool. We sat on a rock bar by a massive log jam. After a while, the kids took their sandwiches and climbed the logpile, barefoot. A movement on the other side of the river caught our eye; a little black creature was playing in the water, slipping in and out, and dashing along the shore with fluid movements. It looked and moved just like a ferret – except ferrets despise water. I think it must have been a young otter, though I’ve never seen a black one before. The kids didn’t want to get down from the log jam which they were scaling like master explorers, but finally we got them headed back up the hill for home. I’m glad we broke away from all the things clamoring to be done, to take a look at the river.
