So this is bliss...

You know those moments in life where you just stop? You know...things just fall together and you STOP. There aren't any things "to do" that linger in the back of your mind. Your thoughts are captivated by the moment. You tune into your senses and feel the feelings, smell the smells, hear the sounds, see the sights. My children really bring me into the NOW. This morning I was nursing Journey. There was nothing super "special" about the moment. I wasn't even paying that close of attention to what we were doing. My mind was full, as usual, and I was in my own train of thought when I felt Journey pull away from me. I look down at her and then just STOPPED. There she was, smiling at me with an open mouth, milk dribbling out of the corner of her smile...her eyes locked into mine with abnormal steadiness for a child her age. We stayed fixated on one another as I saw the emotion escalating in her face. Out of the core of her body comes a catharsis of her feelings and she expresses herself with confidence, she lets out a high pitched squeal of true delight! It was as if she had reached Nirvana...as if she was filled with the most pure joy. It was in that moment I just "got" it. It all became so clear...and I remember thinking... "I never want this moment to leave me". Not that I wanted time to stand still or for my mind to never escape that exact moment. I just want it to stay with me. Whether it is a feeling that subtly resurfaces throughout my future and exists to bring me back to that moment...or if it is a visual recollection of her face, her smell, her sounds. I just never want it to leave me. I want it to be forever inscripted in my spirit...my being...my essence. I want to take it with me when my soul ventures onward. I want to always hold the clarity I found in that moment...the wisdom that came with her joy. I just soaked up her beauty. She found extreme happiness in me providing for her needs. She was so JOYOUS in being fed and cared for. It was all so...so...SIMPLE. We are born with this innate sense of gratitude and we aren't fearful of sharing it with others. People strive to retrieve that wisdom their entire lives. And here it is...right in front of me. I didn't have to go anywhere or pay money to have it shown to me. It was presented to me in my living room. I was wearing pajamas. I was just doing what I always do. But the moment caught me, scooped me up and changed me somehow. It is in those very seconds where I am reminded that I am not always the teacher of these children. In fact, they hold more wisdom than I may ever know.