A Beautiful Day

29 Months: “Look, Mama! It’s a beautiful day! Yeah, it has a sky! And some trees! And some leaves! Come look at this beautiful day, Mama!”

Ruling out bad luck at an early age, most of us can expect to see about thirty thousand days in our lifetimes. We might sometimes stop for a moment notice, or mention, that the weather is fair or that a sunset is beautiful, but how often do we really observe what’s going on around us? How many beautiful days do we overlook simply because they’re ordinary and we see a lot of them?

One of the best things about having a toddler is that the world is still so new to them that each day is, in some way, remarkable. A two-year-old has only seen a tiny fraction of the number of sunny days as his parents, so a day that seems unremarkable to Mom and Dad seems truly fantastic to him. Our kiddos remind us of just how important it is to appreciate the little things, because, unlike us, they don’t take them for granted.

I’m grateful that my daughter reminded me to take a second look and to notice sky, the trees, and the golden leaves falling to the ground on that cool morning in early autumn. I still treasure the memory of the day I would have overlooked, had it not been for my pint-sized reminder to really see what was going on around me.