The puzzling nature of time

I sit here wishing I could understand time....Patrick is growing by leaps and bounds - each day brings more changes than I can remember. He even looks different as each 24 hours go by! Boundless energy, endless curiosity, intense joy at each small facet of his little life...would that we could maintain that intensity of appreciation for each small thing we encounter in our days. I think our quest to accumulate things is but a poor way of compensating for forgetting how to appreciate all that we have around us. We search for the wonder that a baby finds in whatever is before him by gathering new things around us to capture that wonder. It is a joy to watch someone who is totally content, with every need met! I think about how we all wish for more and more in life, and things never seem to be enough once we are older - I suppose there is something of the same sort in an infant/toddler, but it is handled so differently - for them each thing is a wonder to touch and smell and behold, and for us, it has become routine...so that we must create a new way of coming to that point of wonder that is always there for a small child. They cannot get enough of each new experience, but as we age, the wonder leaves and we learn new responses to things, very unlike the unbridled wonder a child finds at each encounter.

I suppose it is a bit Polly-anna-ish to wish it, but somehow I wish I could be like that - untouched by time, and basically caught in a world of continual wonder and amazement. Thus, grandchildren - they bring you back to that place where a small acorn is the most wonderful thing on earth - you wonder how you could have missed it as you watch the looks of joy as the tiny hands pick it up and claim it as their own. I have grown older...I have been prone to look at everything through the eyes of a "polished" adult, and Patrick is reminding me to look through the eyes of a child....and behold the wonder and joy and laughter children seem to find in anything. No wonder each new day is such a joy. I see that he flourishes in this environment, and it is a lesson to me to remember to appreciate the little things, and to watch for wonder, for in it comes a joy in your being that cannot be diminished by time.

Thank you Patrick, for the journey you are taking me on...for causing me to notice the acorns and gaze at the treetops....for reminding me to appreciate each new thing that each new day brings. It is a good time of life for this, for as we grow older, we are tired and forget the need to do this..Thanks for being so funny and making me laugh. We think that we are teaching you, and building your life, but in truth, you are teaching us, and causing us to remember things which we so easily forget...you are building something special into our lives - I believe this was the plan with Grandparenting .... perhaps it is not something we are, or do, but something wonderful that happens to us because of what you are, and do! You banish the weariness of growing older.....and I love you!!!