Childlike Eyes

Since my own children are grown, I don't get the chance to spend time with very many small children, and I really miss it.  Children have such a precious, simple way of looking at the world.  Today, I was reminded of this when my husband invited  our neighbor's 5 year old grandson to come over to see us.  His name is Chase and he and I met in a very unexpected way. 

I was sitting in the front room watching the news one evening, and the front door opened and this little boy walked right in without a second thought and started heading down the hallway.  (This was the first time I had ever seen him..lol)  My first reaction was to jump up and say, "EXCUSE ME....I don't know you."

Well, he remedied this by holding out his hand and saying, "Oh.  Hi.  I'm Chase."  By now I was more amused than anything, because he looked so adorable standing there with his hand out. So I shook his hand and said, "Nice to meet you, Chase." 

Ever since that first meeting, everytime I see Chase I have to smile.  Today, my husband saw him playing in his front yard and asked if he wanted to come over and pet our dog. He asked his grandma and she said it was fine, so over he came. 

After he petted Bugsy, my husband asked Chase if he liked orange juice.  He said, "No.  I just like apple juice.  Do you have apple juice?"

"No, Chase.  All we have is orange juice.  We have some apples, though.  Would you like an apple?"

Chase looked deep in thought for a minute, looked at my husband and said, "No.  I don't want an apple, but could you please use it to make me some apple juice?"

My husband looked at me and we both cracked up and then my husband explained how we don't have a juicer.

Later on, Chase was telling us how he might be getting a dog, but wasn't sure of what to name it.  He asked my husband what he should name his dog.  My husband said, "Why not name him Spot?" 

Chase looked at my husband and said, "Well, for one thing...he doesn't have any spots."

Again, we started cracking up. 

We realized today how much we miss that simple outlook on life that children have.  As grown-ups we tend to take life so seriously and make everything so complicated. It would probably do us all good to start looking at the world with more childlike eyes.