My wife and I went to the park Tuesday evening to hang out with friends and listen to some jazz musicians perform. I wasn’t particularly interested in the music, but it was a beautiful evening and I enjoyed watching our friends’ three year old run around the park, narrowly avoiding trouble at every turn.
At one point the little guy was blowing bubbles in my direction. For his amusement, I snatched one out the air and pretended to eat it. This turned out to be poor judgment on my part, as soon he was imitating me and, within a minute or so, he started to put the bubble wand in his mouth. As a quick distraction, I fell backward out of my lawn chair. He found this hilarious, and we immediately started playing this new game, whereby he would blow bubbles at me and I would fall back out of my chair to avoid them hitting me.
After about the third round of this, he suddenly exclaimed: “Bob, your silliness knows no bounds!”
I fell out of my chair again, this time from the sheer force of laughter. He must’ve picked that expression up from his Dad, but to hear it from a three year old at that moment was just priceless.
This past week has been a rough one at work, and I’ve felt like a decrepit old man dragging myself through the days. That one moment at the park seemed to release me from myself just long enough to snap back into the flow of life. Thanks little buddy.