No photo today...

This morning, I got on the bus and a woman sat down next to me with her toddler, all bundled up in a pink, hooded, down jacket with a bright pink hand knitted scarf, tied loosely around the girl’s face.  I only saw the back of her head as we sat in the very front seat right behind the driver.  Her tiny hood obscured part of my view of the bus door as people filed in, one by one on to the bus from the winter cold.  Each one peered up at the meter, then at the seats.  A few stopped and gazed at this adorable child and just smiled, sometimes at her and sometimes just to themselves.  I cracked a grin every time.

Having my own spawn has definitely changed my perspective on children in general, but I think there’s something intrinsic about children that engenders a smile, whether it’s physically manifested or not, in everyone.  Sure, there are times when a child can drive you friggin nuts, but overall, you see a random kid, just sitting there all bundled up and you have to just grin, inside or outside.

I wonder what it is.  Is it our connection to that time when we, ourselves, were innocent and aware?  Is it our hope in the future of our own species?  Is it some memory of our erstwhile wonderment, or some hope to reclaim it?  Why do we lose that sense as we grow old?  Why do we become disillusioned by our world and our interactions?  

As the mother and child exited the bus, I could see her face.  She looked at me and I waved.  She waved back and smiled.  I waved again, she did again.  I don’t think it was an autonomic response.  I don’t think it was just what she thought she should do.  I think there’s something ingrained in us that wants to connect to another person, that wants to remember that we are all a part of each other.  Somewhere down the line, I think most of us lose sight of that connection, but when we’re children, it’s not even conscious, it’s just always there.  

I read a quote today that rings very true to me.  “Don’t believe everything you think.”

It means, don’t just live in your head.  Get out of the world clouded by your own thought and be aware of the reality that is all around you.  It’s a very zen thing, the idea that we are constantly clouded by our own thoughts.  That our own minds are interrupting our experience of the wondrous world around us.  It’s all there, in the cold wind, the snow, the ground beneath us, in every edifice we’ve been able to build, every device we’ve invented.  The wonder of this amazing place is always there.  Try to remember it and smile, that’s all it takes, just a smile.