One thing I love about living where we live now is when we go to a certain nearby town, we get to cross this huge, high drawbridge at the mouth of a gorgeous river. The view is breathtaking.
When I have occasion to cross this bridge, even in the midst of some ordinary errand, I always try to soak in the beauty of the water meeting the sky, and the reflection of the colored clouds on the river. Sometimes it feels encouraging - there is so much beauty in the world to behold! Sometimes it actually makes me feel a little worse - the world is so beautiful, so why don't I feel better? What's wrong with me?
The other day, I was returning from a quick shopping errand with my daughter. I was climbing the bridge in my car, observing the profound beauty of the river, but not feeling particularly uplifted by it. On one side the bridge goes up, up, up... until you can't see the road in front of you... then you reach a steel deck and coast for just a minute... and then all at once you begin to descend back down toward the water.
In the back seat, as we began our descent, I heard from my toddler a gleeful, "Wheeee!"
(Image credit: sxc.hu user LilGoldWmn)
It struck me - oh my, of course! It's supposed to be FUN sometimes, this life we're in.
I love that the world has not tarnished my daughter's spirit yet, so that just going across a bridge on an ordinary day can elicit such joy. And I'm counting on her joy being infectious, so I can remember from time to time just to let go of all my deep thoughts for a moment and say, "Whee!"
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