Thursday, April 14, 2011

a lesson learned


summer 2010. just because.
on the lake

Over lunch today, we talked.
The boy and I.
Out of the blue he asked (very seriously),
when we could go to the North Pole.
I laughed. 
"WHY??? It's so cold!"
"But we wouldn't stay there forever, 
I just want to see it."
"Well bud......there's not really a lot to see at the North Pole. 
Not very many people go there--it's hard to get there and it would take a long time."
"I knew you would say it would take a long time! 
So I thought we would just have to take a rocket ship, and then we could get there fast."

In his beautiful little mind, there was no reason not to take a family trip to the North Pole.
Why not?
It was a corner of the Earth that he wanted to explore,
and there was no excuse good enough to keep him from doing it. 

And how lucky am I that he wanted me there too. 

I wanted to freeze that thought, so I could jump in to it at any given moment. 
Just like they jump into Burt's chalk drawings in Mary Poppins.
I wanted to be little, with no limits, fears, budgets or excuses.

No reasons not to do things--just a list of things to do.

In one tiny conversation over lunch,
my little boy taught me a wonderful lesson.
I have too many reasons, fears, and excuses filling up my adult mind.
Maybe he can go to the North Pole someday--who am I to say he can't.
Maybe I have more to see and do than I ever thought possible. 
I can't wait to find out. 

After we talked about the North Pole--
what we would see and eat (it was decided that we would eat cookies from Santa's house),
I asked him if he had a second place that he would really like to visit. 

"San Diego.

orrrrrr..........

Venus."

why not.

11 comments:

Kaitlyn Luce said...

Love being able to see how children's brains work. Isn't it amazing. :-)

Corinne said...

It's so true! How much do we cheat ourselves out of life because we can think of reasons to not do things. I've been challenging our youth in sunday school class to do things that make them uncomfortable - get out of those comfort zones that limit us so much! Richard Branson said the advice he would leave his kids with is to 'say yes more'. If he of all people is saying that, how much more true for the rest of us!

Becca said...

this was such a sweet post. loved it.

Ang said...

I know exactly what you mean - I limit myself by fear/budgets/excuses so so so often - its actually something I've been actively working on this year (not letting those things hold me back, that is). What a blessing little ones are in our lives - and what a heartfelt post! Thanks for sharing such a sweet moment with us. :)

Sabrina said...

I remember going to the North Pole in Colorado. Maybe it's lame now but I remember thinking it was so cool when I was little. I want to say it's near Colorado Springs but I could be wrong.

Rachael said...

I love how kids think!
That's really sweet. And yeah, why not? If you really want to go somewhere, I think you should do it. I probably should follow my own advice on that!
What an imaginative kid you have!

Anna said...

Aren't little minds the greatest? I work with 4 year olds all day and I can't even begin to count the amazing life lessons they have taught me.

Unknown said...

i love all of this.

AllAmericanGrl said...

haha @ SD!! :)

Moments and Impressions said...

This is great... what a wonderful lesson taught to us by a little one.

kelly said...

I always try to catch myself when I find I'M the one setting the limits to my kids' ambitions! Who am I to say they can't go to the moon? They just may!
Loved this post. Thanks for inspiring.



(I finally got to checking your blog again!)