Mind Set Go

by Nancy Marie Farley Rice

I walk around the lake in a pair of wellies

because I see the world from a child’s perspective.

I have no fear–

not because it’s better to do something than nothing at all;

I don’t think either of those ways.

It’s not that I don’t care.

In fact, I really do.

I see the world from a child’s perspective

because I am a child.

Life is fun and new and unexplored.

Blameless.

Picking up a frog;

splashing in a puddle;

crying for my mother;

no stone left unturned.

Tangled hair.

Dirt under my nails.

A warm blanket.

A long, unexplained hug–

deserved, but never for a reason.

I can cry on a dime and laugh on a nickel.

Life isn’t like that sometimes;

it’s like that all of the time.

It’s just… sometimes we get too caught up to sense it:

smell it, taste it, hear it, see it and feel it.

It’s here, in you and me.

And it’s real:

universal,

endearing,

empowering,

unexplained, and

timeless.

Put on your wellies, rain or shine.

Explore the corners of your world,

inside and out.

Write a poem.

Sip your tea.

And breathe.

Even if you happen to believe sometimes that life is senseless,

it isn’t,

and the welly-walk is proof.

It’s always time for a welly-walk, and there’s always time in a welly-walk.

And, there’s always room for one more:

room for you

and room to take yet another welly-walk and yet another friend.

You cannot help but smile.

They abound.

(Wellies optional.)