I opened Oliver’s car door, unstrapped his carseat belt, and he climbed out.  As soon as his feet hit the sidewalk he glanced up waiting for my nod and off he went.  He ran toward the playground and I swear I could feel his joy. In those moments time slows down. I try to savor them because I know before long my kids will be older and playgrounds will lose their magic. They will lose some of themselves to this world as well, no matter how hard I try to encourage them not to. We all lose some of ourselves to this world.

I sat and watched Oliver climb and jump and run. His wild imagination took him to some faraway land. There were no other kids and so he entertained himself until another kid, a girl, showed up. Their eyes met, they smiled, and they immediately started playing.  It was that simple.

The pressures of the world have pulled us ‘adults’ away from what really matters. What if we lived our lives like kids do at playgrounds?

The way Oliver and this little girl met–they felt safe and free to be themselves in an instant.  They didn’t judge each other.  They didn’t care who lived in a bigger house…who had a higher degree…they just looked at each other and decided to spend a moment of their lives together. They didn’t expect anything from each other except attention and a few smiles and laughs.

Before we left the park a dad and his kid showed up.  The dad looked at me and asked how old my kids were.  He assumed Oliver and this little girl were siblings with how they played. Yep. How much would change if we saw more people as our brothers and sisters?

It’s funny how we grow up and spend so much time teaching our kids, when really there is so much we should be learning from them.