The day after my dual-presentation nightmare signaling the end of my semester as a student (though grades still needed to be entered for my students as an instructor) my wife was tasked with taking her students to an event on my campus for the entire day. This meant I’d have to go back and spend the day in the place where just yesterday I had been anxiously preparing to pass or fail evaluations of my intelligence. I would have rather sat at home. That last day was exhausting.
This was not going to be possible, though, because baby needed to eat and mom is his traveling food supply. So we didn’t sleep in and we didn’t dilly-dally. We were up early, dressed, in the car, and ready to go. After a brief stop at the high school I learned my wife would be taking a bus with the students. My son and I would be going it alone in the car. My son fell asleep during our drive to the campus so when my wife arrived his was in no need of mother’s care. She went to her workshops and we went on a walk.
One of the things having children does is force you to take the time to “smell the roses.” While most of my life on the campus as a graduate student is spent acting like a decapitated chicken, my son forced me to realize the beauty of my own campus that day. The entire world that surrounds me each weekday (and some weekends) throughout the year went largely unnoticed in my quest for a degree. Having to take the time to slowly push my sleeping son along the pathways, past the architecture and the public art, along large pathways covered by trees, past decorated benches, flag poles, and water fountains I realized that my world is more vibrant and interesting than I give it credit for. My son cannot yet speak but he’s already teaching my volumes.