Simple Pleasures - Part Two

(see previous post for Part One)

The simple pleasures have always been on my mind as I raised my own children.   When small, their little brains were like empty cookie jars just waiting to be filled with snickerdoodles, peanut butter sandies and chocolate chip cookies.  So curious, they were in awe about everything.  Many hours were spent exploring the natural world as well as museums.  There were things to wonder about all around us and sights to be seen around every corner.  We lived abroad for a time and our oldest daughter, then a toddler, could spot a Chinese temple from a block away, simply by smell. 

By age 5, we would walk to the neighborhood school every day and would stop to save earthworms along the way.  They never missed an ant colony, birds’ nest or snail crossing.  My daughters knew where to find the best berries on the walk home, and in the fall which trees had the apples with the perfect balance of sweet and sour.  One day my youngest, a first grader at the time, declared, “I will never again eat an apple that I didn’t pick fresh off of a tree myself!”  What a wonderful world that would be if we could live that way forever, but due to reality she has eaten many a store-bought apple since.

 As each of my girls neared puberty the simple fun was harder to find and before long, it seemed, they needed gadgets and screens of various sizes to pass the time.  Sometimes I wonder where I went wrong along the way…could I have done more to foster their wonder and awe about the world?  At times I’m afraid that if I looked into their little cookie jar brains, I would find maybe a half-eaten cookie, some stale crumbs and a random chocolate chip.

This Sunday I was given a dose of hope in my daughters’ generation.  We had all agreed on a lazy day.  While I lounged on the deck, both teenage girls lingered in the kitchen doing homework and painting nails.  I could hear the soundtrack from Les Miserables wafting out the door.  When I ventured in for some tea I found the doorway to the kitchen barricaded with a tall pile of furniture.  When I inquired about what in the heck was going on, my eldest responded in a garble of French and they both pointed squirt guns at me.  “Vive la France!” I made out from the shouts of the third year French student.  The French Revolution had broken out in my very own home.

Thank goodness my daughters are not too cool yet to take joy in a simple pretend game!  And apparently we aren’t too cool either, because we allowed the barricade to stand for most of the day (with the requirement that we were allowed access to food and caffeine) until the dog demanded she enter the kitchen for dinner.  We all enjoyed a fun day and a have great memory to hold onto.

 

There is no reason to believe that the Simple Pleasures are only for the young.  There is no age limit on filling your belly with ripe berries on a walk.  Even when I’m a Grandmother I plan to explore and take joy in every little thing.   While walking down the sidewalk after a rainstorm, I will still notice the helpless earthworm writhing on the pavement, searching for a patch of soft earth to bore down to safety.  I’ll take a moment to bend over and scoop up the little critter and toss her into a flower bed where she can enrich the garden with her excrement.  And I will be happy.