Kid-joy shines through

Good morning everyone!

After taking a week off for family reasons, I'm back!  I'm sure it will be a few days before I've caught up on everything, but I'll be digging in whenever I have a spare moment.  I miss my online friends!

Many of you probably guessed, I took the time off due to a death in the family.  I don't want to get into it much here, but please know I've appreciated all of your concern, virtual hugs and real prayers.  You all rock and I'm doing fine.  Sad, of course, but also thankful and joyful.

Joyful?  Well, yes.  I have many faith-based reasons to be joyful, but I wanted to talk about the joy that comes from my kids.  As a parent, I think we often become immune to our kid's joy.  We're used to it.  We see it all the time.  And often it manifests itself in annoying behavior (jumping from room to room, giggling loudly when you are on the phone, inability to sit still during dinner) so we overlook it.

But this past week, I payed more attention and drew strength and my own joy from my children's exuberance.  For kids, emotion lives in the moment.  If they are immediately faced with a sad situation, they are sad.  But, they move on quickly.  Funeral home...not fun.  But cookies in the "family" room?  Fun!  Grown-ups standing around talking quietly...not fun.  But rows of chairs to run up and down and count over and over again?  Fun!  A long procession of somber people into a building at a cemetery...not fun...but oldest said, "hey, it's a funeral conga line!"...so, I guess it was fun!

While some of these may seem inappropriate to you, I know the person we were celebrating would have loved it.

And to kids, nothing is inappropriate yet.  We impose those standards on one another as we grow up.  There is nothing wrong with living in the immediate "now."  As parents, we can draw inspiration from our kids joy - no matter what form it takes.  And as writers, we can remember this kind of kid-centric view of the world.