Present in PJ's and Swimsuits

This morning a friend's facebook status was about the masseuse who wore earphones and an ipod while giving her a massage in Luang Prabang.  I've been watching this woman travel around the world for months.  She's been to South America and Thailand and India and Laos.  She's bathed in outdoor jungle pools, done yoga on beaches in both hemispheres, swum with elephants in Asian rivers and watched the sunrise over the Ganges.  Every day is a new adventure, and when she mentioned the masseuse with the earphones it reminded me of how important it is to be mindful and present, to be engaged with your life, this moment... wherever you are and whatever you're doing.  

It's harder to do now that we're back into our daily routine, but this past weekend at The Great Wolf Lodge we all had all our gears turning.  TT came and spent the weekend with us, and we ventured forth during a blizzard to get there Friday afternoon.  From the bright pink fluorescents and blinking lights of the arcade to the heat and steam surrounding the waterslides for children under 48" to the quiet story-hour in the great atrium and the owl and squirrel and beaver who sang about the rhythym of nature to the 4-story netting we climbed and the magic wands we waved at Magiquest to the way my son splashed himself face first over and over again into the rogue waves of the wave pool, I was fully present and engaged nearly every moment.  It's not the Great Wall of China or Chichen Itza, and there weren't breathtaking views of the Canadian Rockies or the surf on the Pacific, but I got to watch my son run and run and run and run, laughing and smiling through each new adventure, dressed either in his pajamas or a swimsuit.  And Sunday I got to watch him sleep until 9:30am.

Thanks TT for making it all possible... and for spending so much time with the little girl that adores you so Sam and I could go on all these adventures!