Congratulations. You are a
homesteader.
I think our society has it
backwards. The assumption is that because our brains are so big, and
capable of processing and storing so much information, that we need to
throw huge amounts of data at it at all times to keep us "sharp".
Bigger, brighter, louder, is
better in such an ever-growing cacophony of sense-numbing images and
sounds that it’s a wonder we aren’t all on the ground having sensory
overload seizures.
Maybe, just maybe
Our brains are large to be
able to soak up details. Tiny little things that make a huge difference to
our lives and our souls.
I have a seven-year-old son.
This boy is a whirling dervish of constant motion and noise. During the
day I see him mostly just out of my line of vision, speeding from one
activity to the next. The world is a gigantic treasure chest crying out
for discovery, and a mere mother cannot get in the way.
Ah, but at night, when the
day has taken it’s toll on the boy, when he’s fought sleep as long as
possible and finally fallen in a heap to dream of dragons and pirates,
he’s there for me to see. Not just to check if he’s covered, or
taken some sort of amphibian to bed with him, but to see. Every
parent knows what I mean. You sit on the edge of the bed, in the quiet
murk of night and you etch every line of that face into your memory - the
freckles, the terminal bed-head, the chin and eyebrows so like his
father’s, every detail. And I defy any parent to deny bending forward in
the dark and inhaling the scent of their offspring’s head - clean from the
bath, or still filled with sunshine and sand from the day’s adventures,
that too is driven into your memory base. Because the details are what
you hold onto not only during his waking hours when he’s traveling so fast
all you catch is a blur, but forever.
Life is in the details.
Too much of life denies the
details. We’re too busy, we’re late, and we can’t waste TIME.
