One of my favorite things about kids is that they don’t know any better
Especially the youngest ones
They are totally unaware of the change around us
They have a mom who feeds and clothes and bathes them still
A dad who tucks them in and says the Lord’s Prayer
A warm home and the same toys
The same blue (or gray in our case) sky overhead
The same fears about the boogey man in the closet
The same master bed to run to from the boogey man
And this lack of knowing leaves them so much more open for discovery than us adults
They are not dwelling in uncertainty and anxiety
They are not bothered by the news
Their eyes are open to all the possibilities around their very small world
My best example of this is one of my favorite stories
It was when our second oldest girl was a preschooler
We were at the end of our driveway waiting for the bus to come pick up the school kids one early morning
It was a busy time, we had a first, second, and third grader who were running around playing tag, plus a 3, 2, and 1 year old in the triple jogger
And the 4 year old quietly playing in the gravel by herself
The big yellow noisy bus roared up and screeched to a stop for the kids to get on
They waited for the signal to cross the road
We waved them off heartily
And then turned to walk back to the house
And I would have missed it if I hadn’t had to look down to say
‘Let’s go’ to the 4 year old
She was in a crouch in the gravel
Over a good size mound
Of pink rocks
Beautiful pale pile of pink rocks
I always thought gravel was gray
But I had never told the four year old
Maybe if someone had convinced her gravel was gray she would have never taken a closer look and found the pink