Lessons From a Five-Year-Old

My nephew Theo is five, and he is the most enthusiastic person I know.

He is enthusiastic about puddles. He is enthusiastic about trucks, especially garbage trucks. He is enthusiastic about breakfast, every single morning, as if pancakes were a brand-new invention.

I took him to the park last weekend, and he stopped every few steps. "Look! A stick shaped like an L!" "Look! A dog with spots!" "Look! The moon is out in the daytime!" He was right. It was. I hadn't noticed.

I spend so much of my life rushing, looking at a screen, thinking about the next thing. Theo lives completely in the moment. To him, the whole world is new and interesting and worth stopping for.

On the way home he fell asleep in the car holding the L-shaped stick. I still have it on my desk. It reminds me to look.