A very gracious and wonderful friend has been overseeing my son during a part of the day I am occupied by work. Her only request was that I purchase her coffee in exchange for the opportunity to spend some amount of time with my joyful son (though she’ll certainly get more than mere morning drink for the wonderful work she does). She’s a wonderful person and has become a good friend to my son during their time together. My son recognizes her as a friend and gladly extends his arms in a sign for her to lift him off of the ground and happily take him around the campus while I work. Her stories about his time away from Mom and Dad are quite funny.
Our son, once again, is known as the “happy baby” because he smiles and laughs all the time. Moreover he smiles at the college students who pass by and their teachers and the staff and the grounds crew and the librarians. He shares his joy. Sometimes people stop to watch him dance his dance of joy. I get excited just thinking about my son brightening so many days in the midst of deep and troublesome study. School is stressful and I’m quite happy he relives some of that stress.
One of the terrible realities of college, as I remember my time as an undergraduate, was the absense of children. You’d think that this would be ideal. You wouldn’t want kids around to mess up your studies or your fun. I distinctly remember, however, thinking that I wished there were some kids around to show us — remind us — what true joy exists in the world. Sometimes you don’t need more time to study or more silence or more isolation. Sometimes you just need some joy. Sometimes you just need a reminder that the world is bigger than that paper. I’m happy to know my son reveals that truth to some students.