Living Awake

Jenny sees funny things the rest of us miss. Her humor is never mean-spirited, she simply sees irony everywhere. One time, she was in church and the fire and brimstone minister was exuberantly singing, "When the roll is called up yonder I'll be there!" All the while, jabbing his pointed finger toward the ground. That one, it makes her bust a gut!

The other day, she sent me a text message I only half understood about the guy in the cow suit for chik-fil-a waving in the wrong direction. What I did understand was the end of her message, "Tell me this is not the funniest planet ever!" My reply was, "It is if you live awake like you do."

A couple of weeks ago one of our friends brought over his 18 month-old and 2 1/2 year-old daughters. His wife was out of town and he wanted to watch a football game with Malcolm. I got to play "auntie" for a couple of hours.

It has been a while since small children have blessed this house. I took the girls into Brendan and Kiki's rooms and they picked out two huge stuffed St. Bernards to play with. We laid the dogs on the carpet. One of the adults would count, "one, two, three!" and the girls would jump onto the stuffed dogs, clinging to their necks, rolling and laughing. This process was repeated innumerable times...each jump followed by squeals of glee as if it was the first one.

Their joy was infectious, Malcolm and I were making silly faces, grabbing the camera...energized by their ALIVENESS!

Little children remind us how to live awake...wonder, joy, playing until you need a nap, making funny faces, dancing, loving, laughing, LOOKING.

At what age do we stop seeing that we do in fact live on the funniest, most beautiful planet? Is it a gradual or sudden process? When was the first time I mindlessly drove home, ignoring the sun setting on the pasture of white calves near Miss Stella's house?

What would it be like if tomorrow morning, instead of "getting out of bed," I decided to "wake up?" Even if my day isn't filled with stuffed St. Bernard's to jump on; even if there were a few rottweilers nipping my heels, I wonder if my experience of life wouldn't be richer if I engaged all of my senses in this process of being...eyes and heart fully open.

I hope I will be inspired by Jenny and the girls and LIVE AWAKE. Namaste