Had a darling little house guest today. Always enjoy spending time with the young ones in our family. We played video games and went swimming with cousins at baby brother’s pool, visited the Golden Arches for lunch. It was a fun, happy day, full of laughter and popcorn and popsicles.

The joy of childhood is so special. I love the innocence and curiosity of children. There was a spider on the bottom of the diving board and for several minutes it was the most important thing of the morning. The littlest one there squatted down by the diving board and narrated to us a tale about the spider, wanting all of us to come and look at it. Just precious!

Am I the only one who thinks the innocence of childhood is in danger of going extinct. I hope I am the only one. Technology is a wonderful thing in the modern world but observing the outdoor wonders of the world, getting dirty, playing in a mud puddle, watching birds on a feeder, picking vegetables you’ve grown from a garden, catching lightning bugs, fishing with worms, climbing trees, riding a bike down a dirt road, and playing in a sand box, and a million more simple ways to play outside, are all just as important as mastering technology.

A car drove down my street today with three children inside. All three of them were looking at iPads and cell phones in the car. We don’t even look out the car windows any more. We’re addicted to instant gratification. We don’t have the patience to wait in line at the grocery store, we fast forward through commercials on tv, we blow the horn at red lights when the car ahead doesn’t immediately move when the light turns to green.

Let’s slow down, take a deep breath, and find a porch swing to sit in and relax.