Taking note

There are so many little moments that slip by without note in our lifetime. Not that I don't notice them, I just don't take note of them. I think that's part of why I continue to blog. I forces me to slow down each day and process all the moments of my day...forces me to literally take note of those little moments that tend to get lost if I don't focus on them. And when I do sit down and take note, I'm pretty amazed at what I find.

This morning, Samuel was playing with Myles on my bed while I watched the Colbert Report. Muhammad Yunus was on the show, talking about his book, Creating a World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism (which has now been added to my ever-growing wish list of books I want to read when I magically find more time in the day). Mr. Yunus was also talking about what qualifications people must meet to participate in his micro-loan program for the "very poor" in Bangladesh. He said one of the easiest ways to identify people who qualify is to see if they have any furniture. If someone has furniture, they have too much money to qualify. Typically, their clients live in one room homes with leaky roofs and no furniture.

My beautiful little five-year old sweetheart, who had apparently stopped playing with his little brother in our giant king sized bed, was watching intently. He climbed down with a determined look on his face and headed for the door. I asked him where he was going and he said he was going to go get some money to send to the poor people so they could buy some furniture. I suddenly felt very ashamed of myself and very impressed by my son.

As I tried to properly formulate this entry to convey what I wanted it to about our boy, I flashed back two days to the funeral home when he started to cry because he "was sad about great-grandpa," a man he has only briefly met a handful of times in his entire five years. I remembered him refusing to talk about it because he "was afraid it would make mommy cry." I recall his voice as he said he was glad that Alex and Travis have a dog (Isaac) to play with.

I realized these little moments are all noteworthy because they tell of his innate kindness...his capacity to love. All completely spontaneous and un-coached moments. Empathy and selflessness. Love and understanding. All things that could slip by if I'm not careful enough to take note of them and reinforce them properly.

I am so lucky to have this little creature in my life. I'm going to make it a point to be more careful and take notes. I think we're both worth the time and effort.