Change your view

I hang out with my kids a lot.

They had started getting restless and were always waiting  for the next thing to happen. Easily bored. Unable to see what they were staring at.

I decided to take them noticing.

Rao's bakery was first. We sat and ate cookies-and-cream gelato with small, brightly colored plastic forks at the long wrap around booth by the order line. We shared a big, fat, fresh cinnamon roll. For a few seconds there were forks colliding and screeching together like seagulls grabbing for crumbs. And then about five minutes later I heard.

K mom, moooom lets go.

They were missing so much.

And that's when I started it.

We are not leaving here till you each tell me ten things you notice, I said firmly. 

I sat and sipped my coffee  listening to this.

Ugh.

This is no fun.

Mom is being dumb.

And then.

Jackson found his own wonder! Mom look at those mirrors. They are so huge and cool looking, he said excitedly. We all turned. Six large, silver mirrors hung the wall to life. We stared till we all took it in.

Mom! Christian interrupted us. Look at those tiny lights up on the ceiling. You can hardly see them there. 

And then quiet. 

Until.

Mom that old man over there is eating alone.

We watched him. He didnt set his fork down between bites. He'd stare off alone into the room. We gave a smile when our eyes met.

Mom that worker looks annoyed, like she wants more workers with her.

And on.

Look at all those random coffee cups for sale on that table.

Do you see all those cupcakes behind the glass?

Look at that old antique coffee grinder. Wow. 

...

I took them to get groceries next. I started taking pics of what they noticed .

Christian saw bumper stickers and they made him laugh and laugh.

They noticed the green peppers. They smelled like my dads garden. A mixture of love and hard work. We stopped and smelled them for a minute.

They noticed new fruits.

They noticed there weren't very many lobsters left in the tank.

They noticed the watermelon sticker said Charity. They love aunt Charity. 

They begged me to buy it. Moms will do stuff like that. 

And on the way home, there was bird spotting, a new fountain found and the gas station seemed very busy to them.

I've always loved the phrase

Change your view and your view will change.

And it was happening. Their view was changing. And I was getting to see their views. And that was changing me.

The other day we got out of our car to go in the bookstore. An elderly couple was walking past and the man was softly whistling. Like grandpa Hatch used to do. Step by step, small whistles went out. 

And, not one of us missed that.