Crickets

The window is open and an evening breeze is lightly cooling my face. I hear the crickets outside. I am unknowingly at the cusp of learning a whole new perspective of crickets.
Two nights ago, my husband took our two year old outside for their nightly marveling of the moon and stars before bedtime. Yet, that time it was different. She had a sudden fear of what she had heard so many times, yet had not focused in on to analyze...the sound of crickets.


I heard an unfamiliar fussing coming from the window as he made his way back in prematurely to tell me of her new fear. It was sweet to me that her perception had become more vivid, yet I also felt sad that the routine that had once calmed her was now causing her to be afraid.

Last night, my husband wanted to take her out again. She began fearing her exit, as she heard the crickets again. Yet, instead of continuing outside, my husband walked back into the house and sat with her at his computer. He looked up 'crickets' and gave our two year old a new lesson in what exactly a cricket was. He used words like "silly", "happy", "funny" and "singing". Then, he handed her to me and had me walk with them outside to discover the new idea of the cricket with her. This time, she didn't cry or whine. She didn't beg to go inside. She held me tight, but she looked and listened. By the time we went back inside, she was talking about the crickets with wonder and amazement instead of fear and desperation.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if all that life has to show is could be envisioned as a gift or opportunity to learn, instead of an obstacle keeping us from enjoying our world around us? I was reminded once again of why I love my husband when I witnessed him with our baby girl, spending the time to alleviate her fears and turn them into understanding and wonder. If we could have a bit of that in all of us, where ever we go, or with whomever we come in contact with....I know for a fact I'd be spending a lot more nights on the front porch.