There is something wild and powerful about choosing simplicity. It is also liberating, when choices are simple, easy and effortless by design. I have been on a purposeful progression towards simple. Especially with my family. In choosing simplicity, we went for a walk at Forest Park yesterday. The weather was beautiful for a December day and so we and many others took advantage of it. We walked along the Taylor Kindle River way, picked up dry leaves along the way and walked across two bridges, my children’s favorite activity. That and seeing mallards, about 16 of them basking along the Taylor River marsh, a wetland habitat and something we learnt recently in Science. To cap the evening off, on our way home, we saw a snowman at the back of a well-lit Christmas truck. A first for me, and pure delight to my children, the idea of riding on a highway with a snowman at the back of a Christmas truck.

In the middle of a pandemic, in the busyness of an unusual holiday season where wearing masks, social distancing and even solitude may be the norm thanks to the virus, finding time to see the joy in mundane, simple things is a necessity. My words may not convey a sense of the peace I feel now that the choices for me are simple. In fact it was like the junction we approached along our walk through Forest Park yesterday. The park is full of pathways or junctions that forces one to choose a side. One of my sons tell us to freeze when we come across them to decide which way to go. We listen and freeze. Then I guide my family along the path that best serves our needs at the moment. For yesterday, it was the easy effortless path back to our car. If I say the word simple, I am sure something comes to mind, something very specific or concrete to you. What if I said the choice, was also up to you. However you choose to live your life, the idea of keeping things simple, is also yours to define, whatever path you choose. Like my yesterday. It was simple and sometimes that all we need, the simple pleasures, simple things of life. Find them, and keep them for you and your family.