Perceiving life..

In light of certain events that occurred the past few days, I've decided to write about the views of life from a child's perspective. It might not make sense to you, but it makes sense to me. Let me explain a little.

I've learned that life is shown the way you choose to perceive it. As a child, life is perceived to you as your parents see it. Young children are like sponges. They soak up everything. Emotions, things that are said, reactions. Anything you think in your mind may or may not be shown on your face. Whether it's pain, happiness, anger, sadness, it's always there. I am so blessed to have the parents that I do. Loving, caring, supportive, understanding, the list goes on and on. But most importantly, it was the gift of living life to the fullest, and appreciating the things you do have versus the things you don't or want. Growing up, my family wasn't rich. Not even close. It didn't matter though. One of my favorite childhood memories is when Mom would get paid and we would go grocery shopping. I don't mean weekly grocery shopping. I mean three shopping carts full of stuff that's going to keep us fed for 6 months kind of grocery shopping. We'd get up early, and head to PathMark. (Sad that there aren't many left around here, I'd go back simply for the memories.) We would spend hours walking around, trying to determine whether we needed this or that. Most of the items were essential items, veggies, pasta, staples that could bring a meal together if things got tight. But my mom would ALWAYS let me get this one type of dessert. For the life of me, I can't remember what it was called. But I remember what it looked like, the joy it gave me to have it, and of course, what it tasted like. Vanilla ice cream, with layers of hardened chocolate in between. Crunchy and sweet, sticky and satisfying. My mom, dad and I would all share it after we ate dinner that night. It wasn't much, but it was enough for me, especially after a long day of grocery shopping for what seemed like eternity. Okay, so I've strayed a bit here by going on and on. My point is, that my mom never let me see that we weren't financially rich. She showed me we were rich by having one another, by having family and love and happiness, by little things like a dessert surrounded by family. I am so grateful for the awesome lesson she taught me, and I can only hope that I can teach my boys the same (a lot easier said than done.)

My point here, is that no matter what the situation, in a child's mind, things are always going to seem different. Whether they are aware of the issues in the world, in their household, or not, they will interpret things in their own way. Life is shown to you, as you perceive it. If you perceive life with a positive outlook even when the worst is happening, life will be good. 

Life goes on. So cherish it.