Find the Magic

This afternoon, I had the pleasure of spending a couple of hours outside with my 2-year-old daughter. We played basketball, I pushed her on the swing, we played with the dog. It was absolutely delightful! I don't spend enough time slowing down and really enjoying playing with my little girl. So often I am short on time and I spend my time with her outside thinking about all the things that I need to do when I go back inside, counting the minutes until we can get on with it. But there is just something so fantastic about ignoring the time, getting down on their level and really playing.

My favorite thing about playing with my little girl is watching her face as she observes the world around her. He eyes twinkle with amazement at almost everything. And her little exclamations of "Look Momma!" and "Oh my goodness!" just make me smile from ear to ear. The best thing today was blowing bubbles. We must have blown bubbles for at least a half an hour. Every time we blew a big bubble that floated up towards the sky, she would watch it with intensity and say "It's magic, it's magic!" And the more I looked at those floating rainbow iridescent spheres, the more I realized that they are magical. If you really look at them, you will see how beautiful and unbelievable they are. So fragile, so vulnerable and so pretty to look at it. There one second and gone the next, their sole purpose is for our enjoyment. As I continued to make these bubbles and watch them float away, I was all of a sudden aware of the lack of magic in my life. I remember as a child that things in everyday life could be magical just by looking at them close enough. My daughter is absolutely fascinated with the little things that I have seen a thousand times and think are mundane. But if you really look close enough, you can find the magic again. I found this out today. And I am going to make an effort from now on to look at things and find their magic.

Make a point today of finding the magic in something that you have been looking at in vain. It will make your life a little more magical and a lot more interesting. See the world through your toddler's eyes and share the magic with them. Not only will it bring you down to their level, but maybe it can capture a piece of the childhood that you have left behind.