One of my favorite observations about Jacob is that he LOVES to be outside. As soon as he is done with breakfast every morning, all he wants to do it go outside and play. Play with the dogs. Play with his trucks. Play in his tunnel. Throw rocks in the pond. Feed the fish. There is an endless supply of things for him to explore and enjoy, even in our small city backyard. I never knew that we had a hill in our yard to Jacob showed me how much fun it was to roll a truck down the little incline under the oleander. It is so interesting to see things the way he sees them - there is a lot that we start to miss as adults.
I have always loved being outdoors. I simply cannot understand why anyone would choose to be INSIDE when they could be OUTSIDE instead. As I sit here writing this, I am sitting on my back patio, listening to my waterfall drown out the city sounds around me, feeling the warm Southern California breeze. It would be difficult for anyone to complain about this.
When I watch Jacob running in the sunshine, it looks like pure happiness to me. And I think that's actually what it is. That connection to nature is something that we are all born with. I have never met a child who didn't love throwing rocks into a pond. As we grow up and forget those little joys in life, we move away from who we really are and what we are supposed to be doing here. It is in spending time with nature, other living things, that we are reminded of our connection to this earth, and every part of it. That is when I feel peaceful - when I am outdoors, surrounded by plants and birds (and in my yard, dogs), sun, wind...It helps me to remember that all of those other things that I let myself worry about sometimes don't really matter. The sun is going to come up and warm the earth tomorrow. The birds flying over my head are going to keep flying, the ants will keep crawling, and the trees will keep growing. They don't care whether my laundry is done or my sheets are changed or if there's dog fur on the couch (there is). Why should I care so much about these things, then? What really makes me happy, in that true, all-the-way-through kind of way, is being outside, watching my boy and my dogs play together. Sitting with a good friend and chatting in the sun. Listening to the wind through the trees on my parents' deck. Watching a goose land in my brother's pond. These are the things that come to mind when I think about truly happy moments. None of them have anything to do with stuff.
I didn't sit down thinking that this writing had anything to do with Mick, really, but it has brought my thinking back to him. A lot of the things I have just written are things that I think he would agree with. Particularly at this point in his life. Everyone deserves to feel at peace in this world - I'm thankful that for now, there's at least one more person who can find that peace.
And so...here are just a few pictures I took this afternoon in my yard. Things that make me happy...
(And Dan, if you ever read this - yep, it's all just hippie bullshit :))
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