I had an amazing experience the other day. It so struck me that I told my wife about it that evening, and we both enjoyed the retelling, or at least I did. Earlier that day, I was waiting to speak to the owner of a store who was engaged in a conversation with a customer who had a young woman with her, who was holding a toddler in her arms. It was obvious that the baby had a cold and was a little cranky and fussy.

            While I was standing there the baby and I made eye contact. At that she (or he) raised her little hand like she was waving at me. I, in turn, did the same toward her. Her attention broke for a second, but then she refocused and raised her hand again. I followed suit. This happened a couple of times until she reached out closer to me, and we touched hands. She broke out in a huge smile, and we did this a couple of more times until it was time for them all to leave.

            The entire encounter couldn't have lasted more than a couple of minutes, but it really made my day. I have indicated, a couple times in my musings, that to me, children are truly remarkable. This chance meeting represents the most wonderful aspects of these tiny human beings.

            Looking into those little eyes you could see only innocence and acceptance. There was no judgment, no weighing or assessing of who or what I was. As we move into adulthood we rapidly learn to make judgments about nearly everything and we make them in a matter of seconds upon entering a situation, or meeting someone new. I believe I heard somewhere that a hiring interviewer may make a negative hiring assessment within 5 seconds of meeting a candidate.

            The next thing that penetrated my consciousness was her desire to reach out and touch me. Baby's have such a tactile experience; they need to feel the object of their attention, and again, with just a sense of wonder at some new experience. We older people on the other hand, are much more reserved, especially in the United States. Our hugs and touches are given only to those with whom we share some larger sense of intimacy.

            One thing I realized a little later was that for the period of time that we were engaged, her coughing, sniffling and "crankiness" disappeared. Was it that she was so engrossed by the experience that she could temporarily suspend her discomfort? If so, that would mean that she was devoting her entire attention to the moment – what focus!

            This whole experience reminded me of Christ saying that to enter the Kingdom of God, we need to become as children again. Could this be what He means; that we need to regain our sense of wonder and awe? That perhaps we need to suspend our learned attitudes, biases, and prejudices? What if we were able to look again at our surroundings and people that we encounter with a renewed sense that we are on an adventure?

            There are most certainly reasons that we have learned some of the defensive mechanisms that we employ. It can be, after all, a dangerous world. We caution our children about "strangers", to not run with scissors in their hands, and to generally avoid dangers as we see them. But what I think I've learned from this brief lesson is that we also need to engender a sense of wonder in all of the many good things in life, and a sense of appreciation for them.

            We need to take the time to teach and demonstrate that there is a place, time, and need to stop on occasion and look at the world with the eyes of a baby, and even on occasion act like a baby by entering into an experience with no expectations – suspending, even momentarily, all of our discomforts which are the result of a lifetime of learning. I hope I can make this "leap" so that I am able to have more experiences like this one - I hope you do to.

            One last note: I did contract the little angel's cold so make sure that you wash your hands regularly when you play patty cake with a sick little angel!