Dirt, Chocolate, and Purple Flowers
Apr 21 2009

I took my son to soccer practice today and his sister, of course, wanted to come too.  After getting both of them into the car, I realized I forgot something inside the house so I went back inside.  On the kitchen floor I saw dirt from his soccer shoes and some chocolate from one of those Quaker Oats chocolate chip granola bars he had just finished eating as a snack.  At first I thought it was all dirt but upon closer inspection I discovered the piece of chocolate.  I found it amusing for some reason.  I picked the pieces up and threw them in the trash and found myself smiling as I walked back out the door.

I guess I wondered how often we think the chocolate in our lives and businesses is dirt and how often we percieve the dirt as chocolate.  But there they are side by side and both get thrown away because they are on the floor.  I think I did try to eat dirt a time or two when I was a kid.  I was quite the tom boy.  I certainly do love chocolate.  I also thought how funny in his boyish ways he dropped a piece of the favorite part of the granola bar on the floor without realizing it next to the dirt that came off of his soccer shoes.  I’m not sure why I found it funny but probably because it was just a symbol of his boyish enthusiasm and excitement about going to do something he loved to do – play soccer!

So while we were out in the blazing heat of the early evening, my daughter and I were sitting on a partly shaded big rock and then she started wandering around playing with another little boy.  She was throwing rocks into some standing water with the little boy but sometime during this play time she found a little patch of little purple (my favorite color) flowers.  She brings me one and said “This is for you mommy,” and I said “For me? How beautiful! Thank you sweetie.”   Then she brings me another one and tells me I have to save them and put them in some water when we get home.  I told her I didn’t think we had something small enough to hold them because they were really tiny little flowers.  She said “uh huh!” and I said “OK.”  A few minutes later the wind blew them off the rock and I couldn’t find them.  I had to tell her that they blew away and she said “the wind?”  I said “Yes, the wind blew them away.”  She then profoundly said “Oh, OK.” Then she ran off to play.

So the point of this post is…well I guess there really isn’t one.  But if I had to make one up maybe it has to do with…well heck I don’t know what it has to do about anything.

Author: Aruni | Filed under: parenting | Tags: parenting | 3 Comments »

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