The Little Things

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I went camping. It was just one night but we wanted to get out of town away from all the distractions of life.

After some hunting around, and a few small adventures, we found a place to put up the tent.

I began to be focused on putting up the tent, getting a fire started, getting our sleeping bags out, you know, all the stuff that I felt needed to be done.

My wife was focused on other things.

While I was busy getting other things done, she was focused on the flowers. “David come look at this!” Her excitement over things, I felt were inconsequential, was never ending. A squirrel would dart across the road and she would exclaim, “Quick get the camera!” My response was, “It’s only a squirrel.” A deer came close to our camp and she almost jumped out of her skin with excitement. I was trying to get the fire started and couldn’t bother.

I look back at our experience and wonder, who had the better time? Who enjoyed themselves better?

It is easy to get caught up in the tasks that “need” to get done. It isn’t so easy to take the time to look at the little things around us. To marvel at the beauty of nature. To focus on the world that extends more than five feet around us.

It is important to continue to be fascinated by life.

I think my wife got more out of our camping than I did, but I did learn a valuable lesson.