Raindrops and Rubber Boots:

It’s often the simple things in life that make the most significant impact on us. Simple things that change our view of life, change the way we make decisions, leave lasting memories in our minds.

It was late one afternoon in mid-September. My then three-month-old son was napping in his crib and I was spending the afternoon getting settled into our new home in Wisconsin. It was a rainy day. Not cold, but a steady drizzle had been falling all morning and into the afternoon. As I wandered through our living room, picking up toys and blankets, I happened to glance out my second story balcony window. Puddles had formed on the ground and the rain had slowed.

Down below, where the grass met the pavement and a large puddle had formed, stood a boy of about four. He wore a T-shirt and a pair of shorts and up to his knees he sported a pair of red, rubber boots. Filled with a mixture of fascination and glee, he stomped through the puddle, mud and water flying. Over and over he walked, stomped, splashed through that puddle, happily enjoying what Mother Nature had left for him.

Not more than four feet away stood his mother, watching as her son explored his world. She watched as water droplets, airborne because of his stomping, landed on the boy’s head, clothes and body. Mud flecks flew all around him and still she stood and watched with a pleasant smile on her face.

It was a simple scene that I watched from my hidden vantage point. To an unnoticing passerby it was just two people going about their day. But from my new found sensitivity to the joys and experiences of motherhood, it was a touching moment that altered the way I will forever view my role as a mother.

There stood a mother allowing her child to explore and enjoy one of the simple things of life. She showed no concern for a little mud or for the laundry she would later have to do because of the experience. She simply let her son relish the effects of one day’s rain.

And so my outlook on motherhood was altered that day because of one simple moment, a glimpse from my balcony window, a pause in my daily cleaning. I was struck at how the mother allowed her son to enjoy the puddles and promised myself that day that I would be the kind of mother who lets my child stomp through life’s puddles. I will allow him to stop and exam the sticks, rocks and bugs, to splash in the bathtub to his heart’s content, to crawl through the dirt, maybe even to blow bubbles in his milk.

A simple moment in my life made me stop and realize just how important the simple things really are. Maybe we can all learn from the innocence of childhood that views a rainstorm not as something to run through or to avoid, but something meant to fascinate, to explore and to enjoy. Maybe I will learn more and my views will change as my experience of motherhood grows and evolves. But one thing I know for sure. As soon as my son can walk, I am buying him a pair of rubber boots.