Zen Lessons

I've written before about how Pumpkin is my very own Zen master. I am not the best student- I tend to be impatient and not very good at enjoying the moment or accepting things as they are. However, on my way out of day care today, I got a reminder of how far I've come.

Another mother walked past me and Pumpkin on our slow progression across the playground. Pumpkin was walking, holding my hand, and sucking on a sippy cup of water. Every so often, she would stop and tell me about one of the other kids on the playground. A few times, she dropped her water and we had to stop and pick that up. The other mother commented about how it would take us all day to walk out to our car at this rate. I laughed and agreed, but said that I've learned that it doesn't really work to hurry Pumpkin.

As we continued on our slow progression, I was struck by the fact that not so long ago, I would have just picked Pumpkin up to hurry us along. Pumpkin would have yelled and kicked and fought me all the way, and we wouldn't have pulled out of the parking lot any sooner than we did today.

Maybe next I'll learn how to appreciate the time she wants me to spend on the floor, watching her build towers out of Duplo. "Mommy, sit!" she says when I try to move. So I sit, but not with the good grace that a Zen master requires of her students. This grasshopper still has much to learn.