Well I am not sure if this is exactly what the infamous Bard, William Shakespeare truly meant with his famous line of poetry, but it triggered my thinking. In my own peculiar brand of mixing thoughts I came up with an association between Shakespeare and a common saying.
For the most part I think that I am a fairly relaxed and not driven kind of personality, but every once in a while my children provide my with opportunities to reevaluate myself. This one was kind of a doozey.
We had gone swimming as a family and it was fun. We had splashed, laughed, played, slid, jumped and rubbed the chlorine deeper into our eyes. We had fun. The family swim ended at 5:30 and by the time we were changed and heading out it was now six. We had to get in the truck, get home, make supper, eat supper, have baths (to get the chlorine off), get changed brush our teeth, read books, have more fun and get at least Finnley to bed by 7:30. We needed to stay focused and accomplish these tasks. We exited the building, I with Merlin and Sheryl with Finnley. Merlin needed to climb the large concrete planters and so Sheryl went off ahead. Merlin climbed, ran around a couple of times. I generously offered him 2 minutes for his frivolity, while I stood waiting, twitching to be off and complete my list of tasks. He finally came over and jumped into my arms and we were off, safely, "look both ways," through the parking lot. The lot was almost empty and so it was easy to see our destination. I leaned into the walk assuming that Sheryl and Finnley were already strapped in since Merlin and I had squandered so much time.
We appraoch and notice that the doors are still locked and I didn't have the key. Now I was waiting outside in the wind. Where were they? I survey the lot. There they are. Way over back by the building. As they s l o w l y approach I remind Sheryl that she has the keys and we are waiting here, you know? things to do, places to go. She informs me then of this life transforming principle: Finnley needed to stop and explore every piece of garbage he could see.
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.
Stop and smell the roses.
Well, Finnley had stopped all along the way drinking in pleasure, learning, insight, imagination and delight. He had been revelling in the glory of all that was around him. He was delighting in life. He was delighting in the pleasure of his loving mother's company. He was learning about textures and colours. He was drinking in a truckload of simple pleasures.
Finnley's rose had a different name. His rose was garbage. It still smelled as sweet for him.
He taught me that I rush. He taught me that I see very little depth sometimes. He taught me that I lose focus on what is important occasionally. He taught me that I don't understand as much as I might think. He reminded me that I don't always value relationships as much as I tell other people to. He gave me a clinic. He schooled me.
He made me laugh. He shared some of his delight with me. I think I need help with that more and more. Sharing someone else's delight might just be better than my own.
Some new world wisdom gleaned from Finnley: stop and smell the garbage as you play with it.
Oh yeah.
The keys were in my pocket.
g-ram
