It was a grey outside, and chilly. Rain threatened all day, and the breeze was cold. I wasn’t complaining. We had had several days of sun and heat, finally, and a little rain wouldn’t hurt anyone. It did mean that the boys were feeling more cooped up than usual.
My boys are definitely children of the technological era. We don’t have a television, or any of the console game devices. But we do have more computers than people in our house. None of them are very new – I think the newest one is at least 4 years old. And none of them are totally tricked out with tons of RAM or high-end graphics cards. The boys still manage to find games they can play on these old computers, and they spend a lot of time on the computers. There are often fights and negotiations about who gets to use which computer. Because of the weather, they weren’t interested in heading out to play.
We were definitely starting to get cabin fever. Three boys and myself, sharing the same 400 square feet of space. All day. Tempers were rising. Boredom was increasing. None of my suggestions were being taken.
My youngest son, Marcus, is usually the best about entertaining himself without the computers. He’ll go outside and play his own games at any time. Just as he decided he wanted to go out for a bit, the downpour finally began. All of the rain seemed to be determined to come down at the same time. And Marcus wanted to go outside?
The rest of us warned him. “It’s pouring out right now. You’ll get soaked! Are you sure you want to go outside?”
He looked out, looked back at us, grinned, and shrugged. And out he went. Into the pouring rain. He started jumping and dancing and cheering in the middle of the street, bouncing like the raindrops leaping up from the pavement. He was having fun because he chose to have fun. The weather didn’t matter. All that mattered was his choice.
I couldn’t help but smile as I watched him. His joy was infectious. Even my oldest, Alex, ran out into the rain after watching his little brother have so much fun. The power was in the choice, not the circumstance.
How are you choosing to be in this moment? Do you look for the joy whatever the circumstance? Leave your comments below.
Blessings,
Mary
I love that your kids freely follow their bliss and are encouraged to do so!
Life is about dancing in the rain. while some are aware of the rain, others feel the magick of it. marcus is one of those people, and it is only by holding onto that, that our souls never grow weary being here on this existence of plane:)
Thanks, Jen and Phoenix. I do my best to let them follow their instincts unless it is life-threatening or morally-threatening. It’s not always easy to let go of my restrictions and “shoulds”, and once in a while it backfires on me. But when I can let go, I usually learn something.