Envious of childlike excitement

This doesn't have a whole lot to do with the theme of this blog, but I wanted to write about it anyways. And since its my blog, I have that perogative : )

I have to admit to envy. Isn't that one of the seven deadly sins? But what about envy that inspires you and makes you a better person? Anyways, as the title of this post reveals, I'm envious of the pure, unaffected joy and excitement that children feel. The simplest things can make their faces light up with uncomplicated happiness. Us adults rarely experience that. We have so many 'buts' and 'ifs' and other rationalizations about things...or we are just too busy to slow down and enjoy a single moment in time.

The incident that triggered this post happened this weekend. I went to a pumpkin farm with my family. Basically that involved five adults traipsing around after my two year old nephew as he explored the tractors, animals, hay bales, tunnels, etc. He was having a lot of fun. But there was this one particular moment when he turned around and saw the sandbox. This was a pretty awesome sandbox. It was probably the size of my apartment and was full of every kind of Tonka truck imaginable - bulldozers, dumptrucks, diggers, and more. My nephew loves trucks. In that instant when he caught sight of this kids wonderland, his eyes grew big, his jaw dropped, and his little arms started flapping. I'm not even sure he managed to emit his typical 'wow' - the amazement had stolen his speech. He was literally shaking with excitement.

Note: This picture isn't of the day we went. I got it from Google Images. 

But it does give a bit of a sense of what the sandbox was like.

My description doesn't do the moment justice. It was really special and us adults all agreed that that single moment made our admission price worth it. But on the way home I began to think about when the last time I got that excited was. I honestly can't remember. I try to embrace my childlike side on occasion - I like to swing in the park or make something with lego or simply stop to look at shapes in the clouds. But I tend to guard myself against excitement. Excitement and hope go hand in hand. Excitement is an expectation of something's awesomeness. And I have too much experience with disappointment. I think all adults do and it tends to make us cautious. Which is sad...because we miss out on the pleasure of anticipation. I sometimes wish I could let all that fall away for a day and just experience the world through the trusting, everything-is-new, delight of a child.