I had the sun in my pocket!

The imagination of a child is refreshing. While typing last night’s rant about the voting process during the Republican National Convention, my six year old daughter, Cecelia, started yelling for me from her bedroom. Val had sent her to bed early because she was tired from a long day at school, so by the time she started calling for me I had a feeling she was in some state of sleep. Still, concerned to make sure she was all right, I rushed out of my chair and jutted through the dark house to find Val already in her bedroom, asking if she was ok. Cecelia was laughing and talking as if she was wide awake, like when she wants to share something funny she saw on TV. I walked into her room, sat next to her and Val and said, “Wow, she must really be tired, she’s still asleep. What was she laughing about?” Val responds, “Something about ‘I had the sun in my pocket!’” This was a welcomed change of mindset from my irritable rant, and it made me wonder why a dream like this was so funny to her. I guess if I were able to pull the sun out of the sky and put it in my pocket, I’d find it a bit funny as well and share it with someone. I was a little disappointed this morning when she wasn’t able to remember the dream and tell me why it was so funny. Even worse, the morning ‘tude came out, she insisted she doesn’t talk in her sleep, and then excused me from her room so she can get dressed.

It would be interesting to listen to the stories her sole tells her in the middle of the night. Part of growing up is losing the ability to think like a child and gaining the ability to think rationally like an adult. Starting a new job or project can be similar, where we have no clue what we are getting into, but have a wide-range of thoughts about how we’d like to add value. But as experience builds, we slowly lose new ideas and solidify our ability to get things done quickly. The quicker we get things done, the shorter our deadlines get, and new ideas become optional because time is short. We all find times when we say, “I didn’t think to do that” after someone else looks at the problem.

I’m glad I’ve started something new where I still have no clue about what I’m doing. Maybe it’s just the beginner’s blogging-bug, but I’m sorry I didn’t do this sooner to permanently note moments during earlier years with both Cecelia and my nine year old son, Michael. But I’m here now, and if I can keep myself interested in blogging, maybe I won’t lose the great moments of their future. I’m going to see how many other ways in my personal and professional life where I can put the sun into my pocket.