Did I Like the Pizza There?

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Back to our regularly scheduled program….

If I ever disappear on a weekend, know that I’m not dead. I’m just out in the forest trying to find some porridge that’s just right, okay?

In the last day or so, I have wondered a lot about my writing here the last year. I wrote a few stories before starting this blog. I had also tried to write poetry, children’s books, and a screenplay; however, I couldn’t seem to get into some sort of writing groove. This blog is how Jean Got Her Writing Groove Back; well, I didn’t get it back, this is where my groove started.

Along the way, I have had friends who have encouraged me to the nth degree. But, today, I looked a bit deeper. What really kept me going day after day? I had recently explained to a friend that I felt my blog was like the bulletin board of my life. I hadn’t lived a day without putting up at least one postcard up on my bulletin board.

But, there was something else, too. Okay, it was somebody else. It was Isabelle and Nathan.

And more specifically, it was Isabelle. Today, I wished I had been laid off when Nathan was 6. I missed so much time with him; however, it’s been good to be with him the last year, because soon I’ll blink, and he’ll be gone.

Iz just ran upstairs, collected something from her room, and as she was running back downstairs, I said, “Thank you for….” She interrupted me and asked, “For making your bed?” I said, “Yes, and for other things, too.” She said, “You’re welcome,” and she ran back downstairs. She is so very powerful, and she doesn’t even know it. And, I hope she reads this someday.

When I was working, I looked at my life very differently; I saw life differently. Now, I see so much more. The wonderful thing about it is that I see life through the eyes of a 6-year-old.

"It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves. I had not lived there a week before my feet wore a path from my door to the pond-side; and though it is five or six years since I trod it, it is still quite distinct The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels."

~Henry David Thoreau

We went to Iz’s favorite restaurant last night. When we sat down, she flipped over her placemat, and asked for my bag of pens. Then, she immediately began to write stories. (Where does she get that from?)

We ordered our dinner, and then she asked, “Did you go on a honeymoon with Daddy?
I said, “Yes. We went to Italy.”
She asked, “Did Nathan go?”
“Yes. And, you came too, but you were in my tummy.” (We got married in May and went to Italy in September.)
Iz said, “I don’t remember it.”
I laughed to myself and said, “That’s because you were in my tummy. Someday I will take you, okay?”
Iz said, “Did I like the pizza there?”
And before I could answer, she said, “Oh! I remember the pizza was good!”

Once our dinner arrived, Iz said, “I need your placemat now. Read mine!”
She shoved her placemat across the table, and then I saw that she had written all over it.

“Wen is dad coming back.”
“So we are gowing to Sephora.”
“Why do we have to go to Nathan hockey game.”

I loved her questions.
They made me question my questions always.
And, they made me think differently about everything in my life.

Then she asked, “Do you like Nathan better than me?”
I said, “No!!!!!”
Then she asked, “Is ‘ooooooh’ a bad word?”
I said, “No!!!!!”

When we were at Nathan's hockey game today, she asked, “If Nathan gets a penalty, will I be the best kid?”
I said, "No!"

On our way into JC Penney, she asked, “Remember that water bottle you liked?”
I said, “No!”
But then I vaguely remembered a travel mug with the initial “J” on it that caught eye last December.
I said, “Oh, yeah. I remember that.”
Iz responded, “I remember all this in my noggin!”
She paused and then said, “And then you always say, ‘What is she talking about?’”
My daughter thought I thought she was crazy. Um, okay, maybe! :-)

When we walked through the mall, I saw the Hello Kitty store.
I said, “Hey, look! Let’s go to the Hello Kitty store!”
Iz asked, “Have you been there before?”
I answered, “Yes.”
She asked, “Did you buy stuff?”
I answered, “Yes.”
She put her arm on mine, patted it, and said, “Good girl!”

And on the way home from the mall, she said, after ripping a plastic bag to shreds, “I’m good at breaking stuff. How come I’m so good at it?”She then pulled the bag over her hand and asked, “Can I suffocate my thumb?”

No matter what your degree, I think the most important education you get is the one you receive when you hang out with a six-year-old. Every now and then, everyone over the age of 18, should live life through the eyes of a six-year-old for at least a day. There should be a day for it. March 23rd should be Live Life as a Six Year Old Day!

Everyone grows up too fast today. And, on a daily basis, we all seem to miss what’s most important. Here’s to not staying on a beaten mental track and seeing the world once and a while just like a six-year-old sees it. ♥