Rightness

Peace, a state of tranquility or stillness, is what I am feeling now. To be truthful I feel like there are still a dozen things that I need to get done, but really on the whole they are not that pressing, I am only missing myself-diagnosed deadlines and no one else's.

Currently I am sitting in Nashville, the city I has called home for eight years and said good-bye to this August when I started graduate school in New Jersey. I have a mug of hot chocolate which has been a frequent companion of mine this wintery season. I have already had a full two days since I rolled into town. I love how it just seems so easy to reappear here as if I haven't even left. Driving around town a bit more I do notice changes, new stores there, a building torn down here and other consturuction everywhere else. Seeing these changes hurts a little because it is the evidence that life keeps moving forward with or without you.

Today, I spent the afternoon with one of my dear young friends who I have loved and cared for since she was eight. We took a walk down the street and to the school on the corner. The day was beautiful for December, sunny and warmer than it should be. We skipped and jumped and looked at leaves and nuts on the ground. My favorite is spinning in circles and I would sing to her and she just smiles and sometimes covers her ears when I am a little off.

I was catching up on one blog that I am attempting to follow and there was an entry on being childlike and today I felt like I did a good job of that, more so than maybe I have been since leaving. I knew it in my heart and thought what a great joy to skip and jump with someone who loves it just as much and doesn't care what others who pass by are thinking.

Here is a segment from Leo and his blog that stuck out to me:

Consider: as children, we are naturally imaginative, curious, able to play without a worry in our minds. Some qualities of young children that happen naturally:

• they live in the present
• they have no concerns about money, productivity, or being cool
• there are no limits to their imagination, except what they’ve been exposed to
• they play and lose themselves in play
• they create with abandon
• they are endlessly curious, and ask questions … without end
• they love showing off to their parents

I hope to have many more moments to express childlike joy, there is freedom in letting yourself go.