A moment for simplicity

I believe in simplicity. I believe in childhood. I believe in summertime.

I can remember walking barefooted in the fading afternoon through tall grass down a long sloping field to pick the raspberries that grew along the forests tree line. I can remember sitting on the concrete front stoop of my neighbors porch out of the sun watching heat waves rise lazily off the little road in front of the house and cicadas humming sleepily from the swaying trees in the high heat of noon. I can remember the current swirling around my little body as I plunged back into the warm river, holding my breath, to open my eyes and watch the rays of sun pierce the slightly murky water to dance on the green river weeds and grew up from the rocky bottom. I can remember the feeling of the painted wooden floor boards under my feet as a stood in my best friends sunlit kitchen eating freshly baked coffee cake while the open screen door carried in a warm little breeze. I can remember beaten dirt forest paths rimmed by lush green plants and dappled with the sunlight that steamed down through the canopy to lay dancing patterns along the wooded corridor. I can remember walking down the side of the road the under the periwinkle evening sky listen to the frogs calling from the pond by the road singing songs to each other in the name of good company and summertime.

And no matter how bad my day might be, no matter how hectic my life might seem at that moment, drawing from those moments of perfect bliss never ceases to work wonder on me. None of them are huge or particularly special things in a person’s life, they all occurred when I was a child. But the calm simplicity of those instants stays with me. I believe that there is a value to those quiet, beautiful moments that we could all take from, that we could all draw from. There is something to use in the sunlight, something to use in the cicadas telling us all to take it easy. There will always be work to do; there will always be busy lives calling us back, no matter how peaceful the moment. But how can we be better prepared to face the neon lights and paper work than when we are armed with the soft memories of a sunlight place, safe from deadlines and phone calls? I believe that we need simplicity to balance the demands of modern life and I believe that there is no better place to find that than childhood and summertime.