It was a rainy afternoon with plenty of excuses to stay in snuggled up in the warm,. We spent most of the day on the sofa whilst the kids fleeted feral and barefoot between indoors and out with seemingly an ignorance and not a care in the world for the rain… They were happy, they weren’t held back, they were having some wondrous fun in the garden whilst the warm summer rain clouds kept them company…
They didn’t find any excuses not too, but the sound of their laughter as they played provided every reason needed to reassure me of the importance of them embracing it. It was a sound I could take heed from whilst sat on the sofa avoiding the rain with my excuses.
We don’t lose that ability to embrace things. As we grow we just fail to grasp onto the belief that we can do so, so readily. We find excuses and we forget the reason.
Kids are not materialistic for things, they are materialistic for love. Simple things, togetherness, time and simply being… They are natural embracers.
So I decided to be an embracer.
We pulled on raincoats and headed to the forest for a walk in the late afternoon sun and still apparent drizzle. The kids would no doubt toss off their wellingtons for a paddle in the stream. We fed the ducks.
And true to form they paddled in the stream whilst we watched on from an ankle depth…
Nothing out of the norm for the 5 & 8 year olds but today the toddler decided to test the waters too. With shed shoes and socks she reached for my hand as she waded in, tugging at my arm as she went deeper with an expectancy for me to follow in her joy. She wanted me to share in her excitement of throwing pebbles in and creating splashes. She was the very reason that I choose not to dismiss but to embrace in the moment instead.
So I sat down.
In my pants.
In the stream.
Next to a little girl whom at that moment wanted to share her world of discovery with me… me.
I could have so very easily found a hundred excuses not to without even a thought but I choose not to. My wet trousers would dry, the mud between my toes would wash off, the strange looks from passers by would pass by with them. I would even quickly become accustomed to the water temperature… there really was no excuse.
But the reasons to oblige her simple request as she tugged at my hand were solid, a little girl who squealed with delight when I sat, a little girl with an enthusiasm to show me how splashes were made with pebbles as we threw them together, a little girl that sat with me at her level and beamed with happiness at my company, a little girl that shared with me the incredibly simplistic and beautiful views of the world around her….that was my reason, that was exactly the reason I choose, for that moment, to be an embracer.
And sure enough our clothes dried and the mud washed off, we drove home with soggy bums sat on rain coats.
But we didn’t make any excuses.
Just awesome!