I have some exciting news to share. In a few short weeks, I will be embarking on a very new type of Adventure as I become a father for the first time.
My wife Jess and I are expecting a baby boy in early July and I am feeling all the feels — joy, nervousness, gratitude, excitement, curiosity, and so much more.
Fortunately, as it has been for most of my life, my older brother Mike and sister Ramesh are a couple steps ahead of me so I have been able to learn from them both.
Mike’s daughter Mala is now two years old. On a recent video call, they were outside doing one of Mala’s favorite activities — watering the plants.
It’s incredible how much joy Mala experiences going from one plant to the next and carefully adding water to each one. She has turned this seemingly simple, even mundane activity into a beautiful ritual.
Watching Mala reminded me of something I read in William Martin’s book, The Parent's Tao Te Ching: Ancient Advice for Modern Parents:
“Do not ask your children
to strive for extraordinary lives.
Such striving may seem admirable,
but it is the way of foolishness.
Help them instead to find the wonder
and the marvel of an ordinary life.
Show them the joy of tasting
tomatoes, apples and pears.
Show them how to cry
when pets and people die.
Show them the infinite pleasure
in the touch of a hand.
And make the ordinary come alive for them.
The extraordinary will take care of itself.”
In my day-to-day, I usually view watering the plants as a chore, something to quickly check off my list so I can return to “more important” things.
Mala’s love of watering plants is a welcome reminder to find wonder, beauty, and joy in life’s everyday, ordinary activities — knowing that “the extraordinary will take care of itself”.
To building a wonder-full life,
Dave Radparvar
Co-Founder, Holstee
P.S. Here is a photo of Mala doing what she love's most:
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