Sandy Content

First of all, sorry for the lack of posts last week. We were on vacation – glorious, restful, beach vacation. The kids, are too young, of course, to understand what beach of vacation meant before we left. Our best explanation to our son was that it would be like a giant sandbox. He was sold.

After hours of driving, we arrived.  We wanted to take the kids out to see the beach even though it was nearing dark.M was so excited. There was this little walkway so the sea grasses weren’t ruined,  then down onto the sand through a little pathway to the beach.

As soon as our flip flop covered feet hit the sand, M sat down to play, shovel and bucket in hand. He was happy as a sandpiper, although I knew the entire beach was just around the corner! It took quite a bit of coaxing to get him up and moving.

At first, my mind was running with little life lessons about how we often settle for less when something better is just up ahead. You know, keep the faith, push ahead, work harder. Then I realized those concepts had nothing to do with the simple life. Those were the kinds of concepts I come up with that made me desire a more simple life.

So the real lesson was not that I knew better than M, but that he knew better than me. He was perfectly happy with the little bit of sand he had to play with. He wasn’t asking for anything more. Content. And isn’t that what living simply is about, really? Being thankful for what you have? There’s nothing wrong with doing things well and wanting excellence – but there’s also a time to sit back and enjoy what’s right in front of your nose. Or toes.