Sunrise

While driving to work in the morning, I find myself looking in the rear view mirror to watch Benjamin glance and stare out the windows. While in a straight stretch of highway heading into town, there is a perfect view of the orange horizon over the green fields as the sun rises to let everyone know it is time to start a new day.

I was amazed to see my son gaze at the sun rising over the blue skies. Heck, he may have noticed it yesterday or the day before, but I just happen to notice his reaction for the first time today. Kind of like this is the first day of the rest of his life. (sounds cheesy I know)

It is pretty amazing seeing something for the first time. A sunrise is beautiful no matter how many times you see it. The look Benjamin had as he studied ever ray or cloud was priceless, contemplating what exactly he was looking at. Of course he doesn't ask why or where it came from but just admires the pure beauty of the sky. As an adult we have that automatic reflex to always trying to break things apart, and understand rather than just enjoy it for what it is.

Over the last year, Ben became more aware of everything around him one day after another. When he sees something interesting, such as a neighbor walking by the house or car driving by, and either Jake or I are in close grasp, he looks at us smiles and says his infamous "ehhh?!" To me this means, "did you see that Mom and Dad? Pretty cool huh?!" He doesn't know that we have seen it a million times. But each time, I see this response, I know he is learning and absorbing absolutely everything around him. He doesn't want to miss a thing, so that is why he is constantly on the move.

So the lesson I learned from my son today is to look at everything like you would as if it were the first time or first chance. And in this sense treat every day, as if it really was your first day of life.