It was a warm (by warm I mean it’s so humid you’re practically in a sauna) Sunday afternoon in Lahore and my cousin had come over with his almost three year old daughter. She is small and energetic and never willing to sit still. She loves to play, as many toddlers tend to, and she is always happy. We decided to take her out to the backyard so she could frolic or whatever it is babies do. Much to her delight and our displeasure, the sprinklers were on.

Her first reaction:

…and my first reaction:

Mmm… no.

We watched her happily laughing at nothing, running around barefoot and  it was my mother who insisted we join the baby in her endeavors.  After my whining, slouching of shoulders, and under the breath groans, mama said, “Live in the moment, Amal!” And the rest is history.

No, really.

I gave up the whole “bored teenager facade” and indulged in my inner three year old.

I grabbed Arya’s hand (Arya = baby niece), and away we went. All of us (mama and my cousin included) let go of our unnecessary inhibitions and just ran free. Literally.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just running through the cold water, stomping around in keechar and listening to Arya show off her new English skills. The day was no longer hot or boring, it was actually wonderful.

 

It was later that night that we were all sitting in the living room  when we realized just how GREAT babies have it.

They are absolutely carefree and if they have a problem it’s probably that they’re sleepy or they need to poop. (What amazing problems!!)

Adults and teenagers get so caught up in their momentary miseries, they forget about all that is fine.

We have all these hangups. Say it’s raining and you think “hey, maybe I should go run around outside, maybe dance in the rain!” but then you think, “nahi, my clothes will get wet, my hair will get ruined, and uff yeh jootay pehli dafa pehnay hain“.

There are so many moments we just keep missing because we’re thinking too much.

Sometimes life is about the simple pleasures. Don’t stop yourself from doing something that would actually be fun just because your new shoes will get dirty. They were meant to be worn.

So the lesson I hope you learn from reading this is what I learned from my baby niece. I learned to dance in the rain, jump in the pool, go on night drives, order the dessert and of course, run in the sprinklers. I learned not to be alive, but to actually live.