slinky zen

The kids have been playing with a little orange slinky that showed up around the house recently and came from...somewhere? I used to know where everything came from. I still know what is ours, what looks familiar, but I don't necessarily know where it all came from anymore- and that's literally and philosophically speaking. My guess is that the little orange slinky came from a goodie bag from a birthday party at some point and was unearthed when they were going through a few random baskets-of-stuff out in the garage. They had fun playing with it and fighting over it for a day or two and then Eva said she wanted another slinky, a bigger one that could walk down stairs, etc. The little one is fun but doesn't move the way the bigger slinkies do- there doesn't seem to be enough weight behind the movement, for one thing. It is also very susceptible to getting tangled, more so than other larger slinkies? Maybe. I know I catch myself sighing deeply when that slinky is brought to me to be untangled. {And I think zen thoughts like- if this were the last time you would ever have to untangle a slinky could you embrace it as it is and not wish it away...Yeah, I'm a fairly serious individual. Mostly. Except when I'm laughing at how absurd it all is. Really.)

So we took a short trip to Toys R Us because Eva had a gift card she got from her grandpa for her birthday and what better thing to buy from Toys R Us than a slinky? And a giant snake. And another package of nerf-stuff. And I have to ask- why is it that whenever we go to Toys R Us, we end up having to go back to return something and exchange it for something else either that same day {as in we never actually leave the parking lot} or the next? I take a deep breath when we get ready to go to Toys R Us. The knowledge that it won't be just one trip, that they will try to sell me batteries, that there is candy everywhere, that the thing Samuel really wants is actually one of those motorized cars for kids that cost $500. (Why don't they make a police car one, by the way? He has been asking this question since he was 3 years old.) Plus, all the other stuff that comes with one of those giant stores- the lights, the loudness, the fact that if I stay in there long enough I will buy almost anything just to get out of there.

We found the slinky and several of those zhu zhu pets (who we saw at my friend Sarah's house when we went out to visit her recently). We also found something that we would eventually- a few hours later, actually- return to exchange for something else. {Check. Now some batteries and candy to make it complete.} And I have to say, while I know it isn't about getting there, I felt a little closer to there as I walked through Toys R Us and I really didn't mind it {um. as much}. I was even extremely grouchy yesterday and I managed to keep it together and appreciate this experience with my kids. A.Ma.Zing. The meditating and being-with-what-is thoughts really do seem to help {if help means being able to get through a trip to Toys R Us relatively unscathed. And at this point I think it does, as least in part.}

So I continue- to think being-with-what-is thoughts, to look for the good in all things, to meditate, and to trust that my heart will take me where I want to go {Mostly. Except when I am afraid that it won't. Or that I'll miss it or some other somesuch.} Watch this short one minute movie. It makes the point very very well- that this life is ours and it is happening right now.