The Charm and Wisdom of Being Three

My youngest daughter climbed into bed with me this morning while I was still sleeping. She slipped beneath the covers and curled her body into the curve of mine. I woke up to her chirping voice singing a made-up song of happiness as he tiny fingers skipped along my own. Her hand swiped the hair from her forehead. She rolled onto her back and regaled me with a tale of her best friend “Abblie” and their adventures with Barbie dolls and cheese sandwiches.  In my half-awake drowsiness, I listened to the  joy she found in simply being alive. All she wants in life is to play with her friend, eat a cold cheese sandwich, and be able to tell me all about it.

It is the charm and wisdom of being three.

Her dreams are still so simple. A grand adventure is a trip to the doll store just to look around. An exciting afternoon is spent braving the “tall” slide and blowing bubbles at the park. She doesn’t yearn for flashy and dramatic. The simple and familiar are what fill her days with happiness and contentment.

It’s mornings like this that make me wish that for just one day I could recapture the peaceful innocence of being three. To not have to worry about grown-up things. To not feel driven to achieve the wild goals which I’ve set for myself. To not have the nagging voice in my head which keeps a never-ending checklist of all the things I have to do in any given day.

Which is why I’m so lucky to have her to remind me of the things which are really important – hugs and snuggles, tickle fights and laughter, bubbles and jumping into muddy puddles. The things which truly have value to her are not the things which any amount of money can buy. They are free for the taking, if only we have the wisdom to want them.

There is an intelligence to her understanding of the world that we lose as we age. We stop chasing after fireflies and dandelion wisp, and focus our sights on the things we can buy and our position in the world. What if we allowed our worlds to be a little smaller, and our lives a little quieter. What if we spent our free time in pursuit of simpler things. What if I let this little child lead me? Where would we go if she took me by the hand and I went for a short time to the places she led me?