Sometimes I watch my kids play and I’m reminded of what it felt like to be high on something.

To me, it’s the reason that anyone ever starts using drugs. To escape, to recapture that sense of wonder, to see the world as new again and feel nothing beyond the joy of your five visceral senses at that moment. To not be an adult.

Much like Mark Manson points out,
“Nobody told you to (play), you just did it. You were led merely by your curiosity and excitement.”

Isn’t that what we all really search for? Relief from the burden of responsibility and obligation for at least a moment out of every day. To me, that is the biggest challenge of being an adult. Finding a way to manage all of your responsibilities in a way that makes them feel more like priveleges than obligations or at least having a momentary reprieve from feeling that way once out of every day.

It would be great if every moment was Sound of Music worthy but, especially as a parent of small kids, it’s not. Then again, it makes you appreciate when things do feel memorable and joyful. Like the moment your rowdy two year old stops to run towards you for a spontaneous hug, when your almost five year old runs her hand along your cheek and tells you you’re “special” without a hint of sarcasm, when you witness a moment of childhood that they share with you.

It’s these little moments that remind us of why you make the sacrifices that you do. It’s why we keep trying to find the perspective to allow us to appreciate these times because we want our children to have as many of these memories as possible. We try to be the parents we would have wanted as children. We all try, we all fail, and we keep trying; because we love our children and all remember through their eyes that sweet abandon within the joy from when we played for no reason other than we wanted to.