Beauty in Simplicity

This past weekend Janae, Neyla, and I went to the beach with some friends.  It was a great couple of days filled with great conversation and beautiful views.  There is something about the beach that just completely levels me, and I know I’m not alone in this.  Everytime I watch the sunset over the Pacific the endless number of colors that come out are majestic.  The bright orange ball with pinks, yellows, oranges, reds and purples surrounding it always seem to bring my faith in a higher, more beautiful power back again.  That last moment when the bright orange ball finally dips beneath the surface of the ocean is truly mesmerizing.  We are watching something that has happened everyday for billions of years, and yet every time it does, it is enthralling.  



Sunset in Monterrico, Guatemala
 

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The most fascinating moment of the weekend for me was much different.  It reminded me the amazing perspective and creativity that kids have and how sad it is that so many of us lose that as we get older.  Neyla loves playing in the sand, that girl will play and build and move sand around until she is covered in sand.  Just the thought of that alone irks me.  I don’t like feeling sand everywhere once I leave the beach.  But Neyla doesn’t seem to care.  She was playing in the sand, mixing water and sand and patting away with her hands.  I asked her if she was building a sand castle, and she said no.  That was the only thing that I could imagine building, I mean you have a few buckets, shovels and strainer, what else are you going to make out of black beach sand?  She responded with a little 3 year old attitude, “I’m making goose apple pie daddy.”  I chuckled and said, “What’s that?”  She just shook her head and kept on making it.  A few minutes later it was finished and she gave me a taste.  

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For lunch we decided to take the beautiful 20 minute walk into the town of Monterrico for some fresh seafood.  On the walk, I was carrying Neyla and we were running in and out of the waves.  There were some teeny tiny crabs walking on the beach and Ney pointed them out to me.  She said, “Daddy, do you know what a crab says?”  I replied quizzically, “No?!?”  She said, “Hi, I’m a crabbie.”  How simple, too simple, I would have never thought of that.  

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It makes me wonder why I’m not like that anymore.  It makes me want to not raise this curiosity out of her.  Picasso once said, “Everyone is born an artist, the problem is to remain one as we grow up.”  Too many of us lose that sense of simplicity and creativity that make up the wonderment of childhood.  I’m trying hard not to educate that out of my daughter, but I fear it’s already been ripped away from me.  It’s never too late to regain what you’ve lost.  This is one of the biggest lessons that I have learned by being a father, to find the beauty in simplicity.  We miss it too much and I don’t want to be that way anymore.  I’m using my 3 year old daughter as a role model in this way.  I want more of that child like way of viewing the world with joy.  I just want to be able to have a blast making goose apple pie in the sand.  I want to appreciate those beautiful daily moments that have been happening for billions of years.  

Colorado livin'...

As many of you may know, my wife, daughter and I recently moved to Copper Mountain, Colorado and that move was rather spontaneous.  We thought that someday we’d move out here, but never imagined it would be so soon and that we’d leave our beloved Chicago.  We hoped this would be a great place to raise our daughter with all of the outdoor activities and the more laid back culture.  So far, we absolutely love it.  The natural beauty of the mountains is breath taking.  The ability to get lost in nature either on a hike or while skiing is ever prevalent and it is a change we adore.  The people are incredibly warm and welcoming, where every time that I go running people I don’t even know wave and smile at me.  I know that’s a rather small gesture, but it’s a nice one.  We may still be in the honeymoon stage and who knows what the future will bring, but for now, our move to Colorado has been a positive change

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A few weeks ago the three of us went on a hike from Breckenridge and it was truly majestic.  When we hike with Neyla, we strap her onto my by using a Bjorn and she loves it.  Usually she’ll sleep, but when she doesn’t she sings.  It’s really hilarious; she will just stare at the nature around us and starting inaudibly singing.  She loves being outside as do my wife and I.  On this particular hike all three of us were truly mesmerized by the nature and solitude around us.  I had never experienced anything like it and it made me understand the 19^th Century Romantics much better.  It reminded me of a quote I saw here not too long ago, “I’d rather be outdoors thinking about God in creation, than in a building locked away from it.”  It’s so true, the miraculous nature of the mountains truly does inspire one to think about God and the world in different ways. 

We have this image of Neyla growing up hiking, horseback riding, golfing and skiing; and not playing video games and texting her life away.  We hope she is as inspired by the creation around us as we are.  This may be really naive, only time will tell, but we feel it will be much easier to balance technology in our lives living here with this sort of culture.  

Yesterday Colorado voted to legalize marijuana in our state.  Many people would argue and have argued that this has made Colorado a worse place to raise children.  I disagree.  I don’t smoke marijuana, never have and probably never will, but this shows the progressive nature of our state.  It makes an amazing amount of political and economic sense to do this.  The amount of money our state wastes on arresting and prosecuting people who smoke a plant that is less harmful and dangerous than alcohol and tobacco makes no sense.  Furthermore, the black market for this drug has empowered terrorists all over the globe and allowed drug cartels in Mexico to wreak havoc south of the border and in many border states.  In no way do I support the legalization of other illegal drugs, but it is finally time that we rethink our broken policy on drugs in America and the consequences of those policies. 

I know that raising a child is never easy and there will continually be challenges, but we love this challenge so much and we love Neyla.  We made a difficult decision to move to Colorado, but we believe that this opportunity came up for a reason and we can’t wait to find out what it is.