Life has been trying to teach me something for the last (long) while.
I think that I was missing the message, because it finally occurred to me last night. It took the smallest messenger to finally get it across.
Our youngest daughter, Evelyn, is tiny, but mighty. She is mostly quiet, but she definitely knows how to be heard.
Evelyn is preparing for Kindergarten (when did this happen!!), so we have been taking her to various school kinder-prep events. While chatting with her possible future teachers, I have always told them not to be surprised that Evelyn may take charge. She is very in control of her feelings and she expresses them very well. She also likes her quiet space and time..... and will vocally express when that is something she needs at the age of 3. One teacher in particular expressed how it is wonderful that she knows what she needs, states it and takes it. I kind of laughed it off....
Go to the night before this school event....
We were all in the van and out for some SweetLegs deliveries. 6 people in a van for any amount of time can be hectic. We were going to take a pit stop at Tim Hortons to freshen everyone up and grab a snack.
Well.... Evelyn wasn't going to make it that long. She'd had enough people and noise for the day.
I turned in my seat to look at her and the bottoms of her feet are pressed together, her thumb and fingers making a circle on each hand, and she is telling me that she needs quiet so she can "0h-om." It took about half a minute for what she was saying to sink in. I giggled with Ken about it, and we tried to quiet the kids so that Evelyn could 'meditate.' We are assuming that she has seen this on a movie and was imitating it. Either way, it calmed her down, and our trip continued on with the calm, sweet voice behind us saying "Oh-om, oh-om, oh-om."
The magnitude of what my daughter was doing didn't hit me until late last night. She did something that very few adults actually do for themselves - myself included.
She recognized that she needed something. In that moment, she needed peace, quiet and recentering. SO SHE DID IT. She didn't wait. She just did it. She took what she needed to be able to continue on.
WOW.
Just WOW.
As adults, we often complicate what we need so much, but it really can be as simple as stopping, doing what we need FOR OURSELVES, and then continuing on. Child-like is not always a bad thing. I think maybe scaling back and learning to be simple would help life significantly.
Last night and today, I just keep looking at her and seeing all the smarts in this little girl. I am going to miss her so much when she starts school. I am also going to enjoy the quiet and, hopefully, learn how to simplify, just as she does.
Sometimes, it's the little ones in life that can teach us a big lesson.
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