Musings from a Koi Pond

Fashion Island Koi Pond. Photo source

 A boy, maybe 6 or 7, stands at the edge of a stone   path that leads through the Koi pond into the center island. “Mom. Mom. Mom. Look, mom.” And   when he knows she is watching, really watching, he runs/skips across the stones to the center, stops in the middle, turns around – beaming – and exclaims that he “did it, Mom!” His happy smile made a bit bigger once she smiles at him and gives her approval of this feat.

He could have done this without his witness, but why? Why, when his goal wasn’t to simply cross the stones but to have his mom watch him cross. His goal was to get her approval, for her to be proud of him.

How often, even as an adult, I am like this - looking not just to accomplish something but to have a witness, to have someone I care about say, “I see you. I am proud of you.”

Sometimes I am envious of those people who never seek this. Sometimes I am sad for them.