I had just completed my morning walk and as usual was anxious to move on to daily errands and checking items off my “to do” list, but something stopped me from unbuckling Lola from her stroller and buckling her into her car seat.
A shady tree.
It almost beckoned me, dared me to do something that was not on the agenda.
Come, stop, sit for a while.
There is nothing else you need to do right now.
Be here.
Carefully lifting Lola out of her stroller, I left it by the car, walked not even 5 feet, fanned out a blanket under the calm of the tree and sat down.
We practiced sitting and I sang You Are My Sunshine and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.
We listened to the birds chirping and cars driving past, airplanes overhead and greeted anyone who walked by.
Lola grabbed at the grass with her tiny fingers and gasped and smiled with the wind.
Soon she had rolled almost entirely off the blanket and was gazing up at the leaves in the tree and “talking” quietly to herself. She was mesmerized, as was I.
As I stared in awe at my precious little girl, I thought I want to remember this. This moment.
She’s only going to be this small for a finite amount of time. I’m so glad we did this, thank you tree.
Duty will always call but taking time to savor and drink up these special moments is vital to my existence.