Day 5 : "It was a happy day."

Tonight as I was lying with Maddie in her bed, out of no where she started telling me a story of a particular day this summer. It wasn't a "special" day, it was a "regular" sort of day. She told me that herself, Jasmine, Juliet, and Jenna were all running in the park playing and it was so much fun. "It was a happy day." She continued to tell me that she had fallen down and remembered noticing how pretty the flowers were and how good the grass smelled. I can imagine her rolling around in the grass, a look of complete joy on her face. She is with her friends, outside, running in the park. What could be better?
That is carefree and happy. That is the definition of being present. So often I see beautiful things all around me, and I don't stop to be completely present in the moment. Stop and take everything in. I missed the opportunity to be completely present just today. I ran over the Naval Academy bridge and if any of you have ever driven over it, it is beautiful. And to those of you that have driven over it too many times to count, like me, you might have come to take for granted the beauty that is our daily routine. I was running and wanted to get a picture for my runkeeper app so I would have a nice picture for Facebook. So I ran and instead of stopping to see the beauty, I held my phone up and took a picture. I then looked at my phone to see how pretty it turned out! That sounds so absurd to me now after hearing Maddie's story. She doesn't post anything to facebook, she keeps it locked in her memory and it sticks because she is truly present. I absolutely had time to stop and take in the view. What is an extra 30 seconds or so onto my time? Believe me, it's not like I have a stellar time anyway. In me not stopping, I missed the smell of the water, the wind on my face, the sounds, all the things that make an experience real. I believe it is a choice that we make to be present or not, but I also know that it becomes more and more difficult. I am reminded of a book that Connor and I used to read almost every night, The Three Questions based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, written and illustrated by Jon J. Muth. It asks the questions, when is the best time to do things, who is the most important one, and what is the right thing to do. It basically says that the best time to do things is now, the most important one is who you are with, and the right thing is to do good for the one by your side. It is such a simple concept that children live by. For some reason, it gets complicated and muddled. This is what I saw through Maddie's eyes tonight, a world with so many wonderful things as simple as grass and flowers. They grow all around us everyday, and yes they smell amazing! When is the last time you have laid in the grass and looked up at the sky? Hopefully if you ask me tomorrow, I can say, "Oh, I did that today!"