On Keeping Life Sweet

It’s the Friday evening of our spring break week, and we are enjoying some frozen yogurt with an indulgent number of toppings at Sweet Frog. My husband has taken our younger son to the bathroom, so for a few moments, it’s just my older son and I at the table. 

“Hey D,” I say, leaning over to whisper to him. “I have to tell you a little secret. Sometimes when it’s the end of a weekend or the end of a break, I start getting nervous about school. Like right now, I’m starting to feel nervous already. Does that ever happen to you?”

“Yeah,” he says, eyes still focused down on his Swedish-fish-and-Nerd-candy-topped frozen yogurt. “But I have a tip for you about that.

“What I do is I just think about the fun stuff that will be coming.  Like, I just think ‘what else is fun that is going to happen’? Really I just think about the fun stuff and I don’t focus on the bad stuff,” he says, shrugging. “Then it doesn’t bother me so much. Think about the good instead of the bad.”

He continues eating as if he hasn’t just said something profound to me.  Tears spring to my eyes. Here I am, my stomach already knotted thinking about the Monday to come, and this not-yet-8-year-old son of mine has just dropped a huge life lesson in my lap.  What he has said is so simple and yet so challenging. It is, all at once, a lesson in mindfulness, in being present, in choosing your perspective, in optimism, in focusing on the positive.  He says it so matter-of-factly, as if it’s just a choice one could make.  Maybe it is.

All night long and the next day, I cannot stop thinking about his words.  I cannot stop thinking that the children in our lives have so much to teach us, if only we take the time to stop and listen. I cannot stop thinking that although I am not wired to think the way he does, maybe I could learn.

While I may not be taking his ice-cream-topping advice anytime soon, I press his words of wisdom into my heart for safe-keeping.

Instead of letting my worries steal me away from the present moment, enjoy what is happening now.  Instead of getting lost in the ‘what-if’s’ of tomorrow, think of the joys to come instead.

Thank you, D, for your wisdom. Tomorrow is Sunday – let’s make it fun.

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This piece is part of the #SOL24 March Slice of Life Story Challenge hosted by the Two Writing Teachers.