A Day In The Summer

If there is one pearl of wisdom I could share with young parents it would be John Lennon’s words: “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

My husband and I birthed six children at home. We created a successful business. We juggled the routines, events, and expectations typical of many young families. And amid our very full schedule, our children lived in the moment, as children do.

Once, on an ordinary summer day, all of our children were playing in the yard together. Even though their ages were 12 years apart, our oldest was just as engaged in the romping and fun as the youngest. I sat in my room looking out the window overwhelmed with a simple notion that this was a moment in time I wanted to keep in my heart forever.

It wasn’t that this was such a unique moment—they played together often. It was more like an insight into the future—that someday, all too soon, this free and innocent expression of childhood would pass.

I disregarded the temptation to feel sadness. Instead, I chose to remain consciously present in the moment. I can remember that sunny day as if it were now. I can hear their silly laughter and see their expression of sheer joy. Every cell of my being absorbed the experience when I opened up to the present-time consciousness of a child.

Over the years, I have come across cards, poems, essays, and other writings from my kids. Maybe it was a special birthday or Mother’s Day card, perhaps prompted by a teacher to write, but nevertheless they were expressions from their heart in a moment of time. Some I can remember reading when they were given to me, and some seem almost unfamiliar, somehow lost in the quagmire of making other plans.

As Father’s Day comes and goes, I wish for dads to realize this one irreplaceable pearl of wisdom: Father’s Day is every day. Each and every day, allow yourself the opportunity to live in the present-time consciousness your children live in. Embrace that moment. Feel their deep love for life, for you, for the power of the present…because “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans.”

For the raising of the consciousness,

Jeanne Ohm, D.C.