Stocking: Pause necessities to be enlightened

One morning before school last week, my little man came into my bathroom and very solemnly said, “Mom, I need you to come here.”

I wasn’t sure I wanted to follow McKay to wherever we were going. I was getting ready for work and he was supposed to be working through his morning chores. After the kids get up and get dressed, McKay has a few simple chores to complete before breakfast. He feeds the two cats, the two fish, and the dog. Then he checks the dog’s water to make sure it is full. When he comes back inside the house, he unloads the dishwasher and then makes as much of his lunch as he can (you know, the part where he gets the chips and granola bar from the pantry).

When McKay came into my bathroom that morning, he had just gone out to get the dishes to feed the animals. As we walked through the house towards the back door, I was panicking, trying to figure out why he needed me. His serious face concerned me. Did the pregnant cat have kittens? Was one of the cats dead? Had something happened to the dog? What was going on on the back steps that caused my nine year old to be so serious?

“I wanted you to see this, Mom,” my son said, stopping at the back door. “Look at the sky. Isn’t it beautiful?”

My busy kid had stopped and looked at the sky, and then decided I needed to see it. Grateful that there wasn’t anything traumatic to deal with at 6:45 am, I looked out the window, and indeed, the sky was beautiful. The sun hadn’t yet risen above the Tetons in the distance, but the approaching sun showed us a blue sky with wispy pink clouds, and behind the black lines of the trees and houses, shiny yellows and oranges promised a beautiful day.

However, the beautiful sunrise didn’t compare to what I saw in my son just then. I saw a little boy who was beginning to distinguish between what was necessary and what was enlightening. Feeding the animals was necessary, but watching the sunrise, even for a few moments, was enlightening and he knew it was important. He needed me to see that beautiful sky and validate for him the importance of stopping what was necessary to spend a few minutes on what was enlightening.

For all the things I need to teach my son, I need to remember how much I learn from being a mother. Stopping to look at the sky is certainly one of the most important things to learn.