If Only I Could Bottle That Stuff…

Kids provide an incredible insight to where we’ve BEEN, recognizing the youth and energy of life that we gradually lose as the weight and responsibility of adulthood begins to bear down on one’s shoulders. That may seem like a bit of a morose perspective, but an accurate one. Time creeps up on us all, and very few of us have watched a children at play without acknowledging that we wish we still had their level of energy, enthusiasm and flexibility. Personally, I tend to feel a tinge of jealousy at how my son Nathan is viewing and experiencing most things in his life for the first time.

Yesterday morning was atypical for me, considering my pump had only interrupted me once during the night and I was able to ACTUALLY sleep until almost 9 a.m. What was more typical was Nathan’s behaviour. As soon as my eyes opened, he was at the bedroom door asking me how my sleep was. If I didn’t know better, I’d almost think he was sitting outside the door waiting for me to wake up. I responded that it had been decent and he immediately started into a tirade of verbal diarrhea, most of which I didn’t understand. Since the baby’s room was right next to ours, I warned him about waking him and shooed him off.

I was barely able make my way out of bed and to the kitchen to grab some caffeine before Nathan was excitedly asking me if he could wear a particular shirt. I sleepily replied that it was fine, even though it was a short-sleeve shirt and we’re still in the depth of winter. He ran off and it took me a full minute to realize that it was first thing in the morning (relatively speaking) and he appeared to be getting dressed for the day. This isn’t typical for him, with a growing battle ensuing every time I try to get him dressed to go somewhere.

Then it struck me… We had a reasonable snowfall last night and our next door neighbour was kindly using his snowblower on our entire driveway. Nathan is usually a fan of being outside while snow is being cleared. After all, what kid doesn’t like to see a white jet of powdered snow being shot everywhere, right? Plus, our neighbour has a friendly dog, which appeals to any kid. He was dressed and out the door within minutes, which was more than I could say for myself. I made a quick shake of blueberries and spinach and alternated between that and my caffeine, trying to shake off the last vestiges of sleep. I wish I had his energy…

I’ve always had the belief that life brings movement, movement brings energy and energy brings life… Wash, rinse and repeat. But I would be lying if I said that eventually, one’s energy gets allocated to different things in life. It can be a shame, since the prospect of going outside and clearing snow weighs on me and frustrates me, while my son is fascinated and loves the aspect. It’s this difference in perspective that we lose as we get older and this also affects our energy. ☯️