Great Big Wonders

Yesterday I took the girls outside for a walk, and since the weather was beautiful, for the first time I put on my 15 month old's hiking shoes and let her walk beside me while I pushed the baby in the umbrella stroller. She was delighted at the opportunity to explore the sidewalks and roadside, pointing excitedly at birds, trees and parked cars. As she walked, her chubby little legs meandering at their own (snail's) pace, I started to see all the things around us from a new and much smaller perspective.

Cars passing were huge dragons that flew by with a whoosh, trodden pine cones were wondrous treasures, cedar hedges with their exotic aromas were curiosities to be explored, and that medium sized rock underfoot just might be found useful. A puddle in one area of sidewalk was a lake that we needed some help crossing, and muddy spots might be deadly sinkholes. My little toddler's ears seemed attuned to every chirp and faraway bark, sounds to which my own ears must have grown deaf. Some of the houses we passed had smoothly paved driveways leading up to inviting porches, and it was all I could do to keep her from going up to the houses to explore their front steps. If neighbours on our block find little footprints in their flowerbeds, that's because a little girl out for a walk couldn't resist taking a closer look at flower shoots starting to poke up through the dirt.

Although it took about 5 times longer than usual to walk around the block, slowing down to my toddler's pace and letting her "stop and smell the roses" suddenly made me realize what an amazing world surrounds us. The incredible beauty and complexity of nature is such an awesome thing. Things we use every day, like cars, town water and sewer, telephone wires, hydro, really are amazing and practically magical inventions. How is it I have managed to take all these things for granted?

I thank God for all the little and not-so-little things that make up my everyday life, and that are truly incredible.