The “A’ha P’tend” Story

Always new reflections, gifts, and experiences. Always shaking my head at how “time” seems to be escaping/traveling/unfolding at “the speed of light”! AND, still this nanosecond/blink of yet one more week, continues to surprise me.

Initially it seemed that the calendar didn’t look incredibly busy but then every day was full from beginning to end. Our weekly gathering with our beautiful Gladys; work interspersed with webinars and esoteric explorations; connections with family, extended family, and friends; and for this week the highlight of the the “meet and greet” with James William Thom who arrived to join the Thom Clan on January 2nd at 8:40pm and weighing in at 6.9 lbs.

With the arrival of, and first visit with, this latest great-grandchild a memory of another grandchild surfaced and I felt compelled to share it. Not only because it still makes me laugh but also as a reminder to cherish the memories because these most wonderful little souls arrive and turn around to produce the next generation in what truly feels like nanoseconds… AND…every little piece of it is “Perfectly on time”.

Brendan

He looked at his Mom square on, not pulling any punches at all, eye to eye and what he said was to become one of his Grandma’s most very favourite sayings for many years.

“Baby Boy”, as his Grandma T loved to call him was by all accounts a charmer. With double dimples and a smile that never stopped, people often turned around just so they could somehow be part of the lovely and exuberant energy he gave off.  Of course, Grandma T just knew, at a very deep level, that her “Baby Boy” was an old soul who had come to give us all lessons in honesty, laughter and genuine joy.

So, what was the favourite saying? Well, here’s the story….

Some summer days are just naturally more tranquil than others – you know – that lazy, slow, warm kind of day with sunshine and soft breezes that simply inspire a feeling of blissful contentment.  It was that kind of day that the favourite saying was born.

Baby Boy was two years and four months old. Not very old in some respects, but of course because we already knew that he was an old soul, the earth-school timeline didn’t necessarily equate so was kind of unimportant.  What was important was how he was about to convince his Mom that he had done something she didn’t want him to do.  What was also important was that he would convince her so thoroughly that she would actually yell at him out of fear and disbelief (being yelled at was NOT part of his world at the time).

My belief today? That at a soul level we have all planned and agreed with one another to come here and occupy the human-suit so we can be both teachers to, AND students of, one another.  The 20/20 hindsight vision of this story suggested that the agreement between Baby Boy and his Mom (for this particular event) was to teach her that not all is what it may appear to be and that even a Mother’s eyes can be deceived.

So, here the two of them are – at the picnic table – where they are sitting and enjoying the afternoon.  Suddenly… this big, shiny black summer fly appears and begins hanging around.  You must know the kind – really shiny and really big but also kind of dopy and slow – buzzing and flying close to your face and just generally being bothersome.  Pretty enticing for a little one to consider grabbing it which was exactly what Baby Boy decided to do….try and catch the fly.  Every time it came near, he tried to capture it in his little hands – clap together – oops missed – clap together – oops missed.

Of course, as this entire scene is unfolding Mom is getting a little concerned that Baby Boy might actually catch this big black dopy summer fly and asks nicely “please leave it alone Brendan” and says “you don’t need to catch it – it’s dirty”.

The smile and the dimples are presented while completely ignoring Mom and of course the little hands continue with the – clap together – oops missed – clap together – oops missed experience.

Mom, sees that on a couple of the “clap togethers” he’s getting a little too close for comfort and with a slightly sterner and louder tone says “Brendan, stop trying to catch that fly”.  But Brendan continues in his happy pursuit of chasing the big black dopy summer fly and just as his Mom is about to reprimand him one more time that big black dopy summer fly is in exactly the right spot at exactly the right moment and – clap together – and Baby Boy looks at his Mom with this huge triumphant grin on his face.

Now Mom REALLY yells – “Brendan, let that fly go” and Brendan just keeps looking at her with those eyes that reach right into your soul.  As he starts to raise his hands toward his mouth Mom now SCREAMS “Brendan, don’t put that fly in your mouth” but it’s too late and now Mom is screaming even louder “Brendan, spit that out, spit that out” at which point Grandma T’s Baby Boy opens his little hands to display that there is nothing in them and says “A’ha P’tend” with such joy and such laughter and such honesty that all his Mom can do is start laughing too!

And the very most favourite saying was born!  “A’ha P’tend” may well be what this entire earth-school is really all about. IF we are able to remember that – why then – Baby Boy probably did his job of teaching us about honesty, laughter and genuine joy. 

Being in the Moment

The approach of using the phrase “Perfectly on time” is one that’s been practiced for some time now – pretty sure the collective of children and grandchildren attached to me will attest to it. It’s a phrase that has also been said with “tongue in cheek” more than once. For some reason, today it just seems that “A’ha P’tend” and “Perfectly on time” might actually be interchangeable….just sayin’ LOL

The “Perfectly on time” doesn’t necessarily mean that someone “got it”….rather it might mean “great if you did” and “not a problem” if you didn’t because the experience can always be presented again for a second/third/fourth chance to laugh and finally say “A’ha P’tend”.

So….to sweet James William, AND to his parents Jeff and Laura AND to his grandparents Steven & Meera….seems to me that ALL of you are “Perfectly on time”. My wish is that you simply grab and cherish all the moments that are about to unfold. Blinks and nanoseconds truly happen in blinks and nanoseconds.