If You Could Change One Thing

One of the 589 things that I adore about Autumnal weather is being outside.

Walking, running, watching the leaves fall, sipping coffee on a porch swing, pushing a stroller through the park and accompanying my children on their walk home from school...all bring such joy to my heart.

So it was yesterday that the three kiddos and I were chatting it up on the school/home journey and this question presented itself:

"If you had the power to change just one thing in the world...big or small...what would you choose?"

To which my son, Sam responded with...I think I'd make it so that we always had summer.  That way, we could swim, ride our bikes, not have to worry about homework, camp outside and never be cold.

Kate, my middle daughter busted in with...I would take out all of the bees and replace them with fairies who sprinkle glitter instead of stings all over the world.

And finally my four-year old Claire Bear shouted out Disney Land.  To which I said, you would remove Disney Land?  No...mama..we would go to Disney Land every day.  In fact, the world would be Disney Land.

Very quickly, Kate piped in with, but we can't do that, we're not magicians or Fairy Godmothers.  And her comment reminded me of a quote I once heard credited to Pablo Picasso which is that all children are born artists until they're told that they're not.

I think it's true about our lives.  We are entitled to have everything that our heart desires until we decide that we can't.  To be fair, maybe we can't have everything at the same time or in exactly the way that we envisioned it.  But the desires of our souls are powerful and there for a reason. 

When Sam talks about wanting summer all year long, he yearns for freedom from obligation and more time to play.  Kate wants a world free of bees that represent sting and pain and heartache in favor of fairies who are magical and whimsical.  And Claire wants Disney because for her it connotes laughter, fun, pure joy and time with people you love.

As we were rounding the bend heading up the hill to our house, Sam said...what about you?  If you could change one thing, big or small, what would be your wish?  For a brief moment, I thought, I'd love the power of prophesy to know that it's all going to be okay.  That these varying decisions I've made along the way, largely grounded in faith and hope will all pan out.  But instead of trying to explain that to him...I told him that I'd like to replace dinner with chocolate ice cream. 

He liked that idea.