The Heart of the Matter
October 15, 2021
THERE IS A LITTLE BOY IN ME

Little boy.jpg

There is a little boy in me making snow angels in the sky, mouth open, tongue out, waiting to taste whatever it is that is floating down to him from on high. This little boy wasn't born, but has always been here, playing with moods and mud, laughing for no reason, and seeing, without looking, just how beautiful everyone is even if they think they are anything but. I love this little boy and he loves me, as we take turns learning how to play the game of life, reading each other not like a book, but the look in our wide open eyes which always seem to be saying something we cannot, though we try -- and it is in this trying that every day is Sunday, no plans, nothing on the agenda, nothing to do but be. At the often odd amusement park called Earth, this lad is just tall enough to get on the rides and he does, less for the thrill than the feeling of wind through his hair and the remembrance of something he never wants to forget. Alas, he doesn't have a single hobby, this boy. He doesn't collect stamps, coins, butterflies, or tin soldiers, though he once collected bottle caps and spent the better part of a day, putting hundreds of them, ridge-side up, on the floor of his bedroom, after which he screamed for his sister as if something was wrong and she came running, barefoot, into his room and at least one of them laughed (and it wasn't her). What a game this life is, what a glorious game -- a game of ungoing and undoing, a game of seeing who can really BE HERE all the way, a grand and glorious play even when it seems like a tragedy, which he's been told it sometimes is. You can argue with him if you like. You can. You can try to get him to see that he is wrong and sometimes he'll even admit it -- alone but not lonely, on fire, but not burning up, buoyant, blessed, and bubbling on the sea of life, surfing slowly to the shore even if he doesn't know how.

One of his favorite books

Posted by Mitch Ditkoff at October 15, 2021 08:51 AM

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Welcome to Mitch Ditkoff's blog about what's really important in this life: Peace, gratitude, love, joy, clarity, and the effort required to wake up and smell the roses. Enjoy!

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