On a road trip the other day we were highly motivated to switch his seat because we spent the last 10 minutes of our drive listening to Asher, our toddler, yell; “out!” and “I stuck!”. Upon arrival at our destination we placed Asher in the front seat to play, which is one of his most favorite spots to be, and my husband started the process of wrestling and re-clipping the car seat to now face forward.
Asher, totally oblivious to the battle of man vs. car seat going on, was entertaining the people in the vehicle parked beside us with his “vrooooms” and enthusiasm to “turn the wheel” and “drive”. Allowing me a moment to have a laugh with them about how their kids loved doing the same thing and a conversation about how they are doing amidst COVID-19, within safe social distancing measures. My husband won the car seat battle and we proceeded to enjoy the walk and view around our destination of choice.
When it was time to go Asher was absolutely elated about his new forward car seat position! Elated! Pure joy. For the first time in a long time we didn’t have to convince him to sit down in his car seat! So much joy that all three of us were just beaming and laughing on the drive home as Asher kept giving a play by play of all the new things he experienced; “Daddy start car!!” as he watched my husband turn the key, “Broooooom goes car!!” as the engine started up, “I drivin’!!” as we left the parking lot and “Weeeeee!!” as we sped up and a big “Phank-you Dadda!!” as he continued to be excited with all that he was experiencing. None of this coached or encouraged, just an all-natural response from Asher and the joy of this fresh, new perspective.
What a lesson that taught me! Joy and expressing our joy. Both Jordan, myself and the strangers next to us benefited that day from Asher’s joy. I hope that when I get a chance I can choose to share joy with other’s. Especially now, where we find ourselves in different times with COVID-19. A simple joy, a smile or a shared laugh goes a long way.
“A joyful heart is good medicine…” Proverbs 17:22
