Be where you are.

For much of my life, I have struggled with staying in the moment. I am always planning the next thing or thinking of what's coming after what I might be doing. I am reminded time and again how present kids are--case in point would be the ability to become totally enraptured with a bug detected on daily walk to the car. Even if we might be late, we just have to run to the recycling, find a jar, poke holes in the lid, and cart the thing with us. Another example would be the intense focus on "hitching" the next wave at a beach we were lucky enough to visit. There were scads of places to visit that day- Sea World, a zoo, a famous aquarium, Lego Land and Disney Land if we wanted to. But there we were- stoic mid-westerners standing in the cold Pacific with the 9:00 am hour barely past, and my kids were encased in love of the ocean. One noticed the smell and the other noticed the color of the water and compared it to a lake we had recently visited and both threw themselves in without fear or reluctance. "Let's hitch some waves, dad!" cried Ben. With squeals and giggles, the quest for the next big one began- and they were hooked. After the trip, I didn't point out their happiest moments happened at places that didn't cost anything. It is good enough that I noticed them. Perhaps I am making progress after all.