Yesterday, while watching my daughter and a friend play on the city's newest jungle-gym fortress, I was taken aback by how vividly people's eyes revealed their spirits. It has been raining heavily the last couple days, so the play area was a huge maze of puddles and damp grass. One young boy, probably just over a year old, entered the park and made a beeline to the biggest puddle his little eyes could see. Once he carefully submerged his shoes, he proceeded to stomp his feet one at a time with a glimmer of glee bouncing in his eyes, the scale of which was exactly proportionate to the scale of splash he was able to produce. He didn't scream or squeal in delight, just his eyes did. Silently looking on, his mother's eyes cringed at first, until I imagine she noticed the same spark in his eyes, then her eyes softened and a resigned smile emerged. The most striking eyes I noticed, however, were the eyes of an elderly man, probably 65 or 70 years old. He was accompanied by his wife and a young grandson. His body showed his age, but his eyes were dancing with a wild curiosity that is normally lost after a short 5 or 10 years of childhood. He looked at the jungle gym's colorful slides, and was eager to follow his grandson up to the top and then down the long rolling slide. I was almost frightened for him watching his quickened heartbeat flash in his eyes as he came down. My heart felt pity at first, one for the man who had gone full circle in the cycle of life, and secondly for the wife who was now caring for him. Yet, this woman too had a smile similar to the puddle-stomping 1-year old's mother, resigned to living this day as it should be, letting the people she loves do what makes them happy. So, when my daughter insisted on wearing a monstrosity of 15-plus hair pins out to dinner that night, I had to hide my cringe and feed her a bit of praise for her unique fashion inspiration! Later that evening, I shared the story with my husband, imagining this could be us some day, so we should resolve to never argue over trivial things. He first told me not to worry, that his body and mind are stubbornly strong, and that he will gladly change my diapers if I get to that point. He added that maybe our little disagreements have just as much meaning as anything else, reminding us that we are alive and full of spirit. I slept really well.
3 comments:
Dear Michelle,
What a beautiful piece of writing you have here. I was not only impressed with what you were sharing, but HOW you shared it. It was very poetic and flowed so nice I never wanted it to end. I'm glad that your blog entries are saved as you said some day Lucy might read them too.
Gosh never worry about the arguing about trivial things. Two people will NEVER see something exactly the same. Your father never ceases to amaze me as to how he sees things. I'm just now beginning to trust that his intent is never mean or intentionally hurtful. He is just in a different place than where I'm at.
All is well here. We too are having lots of rain, and it is also ccold. Sometimes I do still miss Hawaii...ha Ha
Take Care and I love you, MOM
Something positive has been in the air lately that fills me with happy thoughts. Hope it continues!
Wow, your entries are so thought provoking! I have to say the first think I am drawn to in a person is their eyes. You can tell so much from just looking into them... Kids will be their creative selves. Although it may be difficult for us to allow them them to leave the house in these creations. I even found myself today requesting the boys put on "real" clothes before going out to run errands. They were just having so much fun in their costumes.
As for arguing... I would rather argue "banter" as we say over such trivial things than to fight over the major issues. I have to say that your brother and I have our fun bantering, but rarely disagree over the most important matters. Keeps things lively!
Post a Comment