Living In The Moment

Even at my age, you can still learn a few things. I realized that today as I was given a very important lesson that candidly, I wish I had learned years ago.


I was watching one of my best friend's sons. He is 9 years old. A wonderful child... amazingly respectful, thoughtful, and good hearted. If a kid can be committed to remaining innocent, that is what he is. He always looks for the good in people and seems to ignore the bad. Everyone is his friend... at least that's how he approaches it. And his laughter is contagious. Mrs. Claus and I find ourselves laughing with him for no reason at all. He is truly a pleasure to be around.


Anyway... I'm starting to digress and I should provide some context. I have always been a "big event" kind of guy when it comes to making people happy and showing them how much I care. Given that I'm best known for gearing the entire year towards one huge, blow-out event every Christmas Eve, you are probably saying "No, duh!" right now. Frankly, I've probably discounted the little moments, the small gestures, the simple things... more than I should have.


Today I had flown to London to watch my friend's son. I was at the house when he got home from school. My plan was to get him settled with a snack and a glass of milk and then let him play while I logged in and caught up on email. It would be perfect.... my friend could rest easy knowing that his son was taking care of, the boy would be happy playing video games or football with his friends, and I would have time to get to all those emails I have been putting off. I had been counting on that scenario since my buddy first asked me to do this a few days earlier.


When my friend's son got home, I gave him the snack... cookies Mrs. Claus had made especially for him... and a glass of milk. I had a bit of tea for myself and sat down across the table from him. After a few minutes of catch-up, I asked if he had any homework he needed to complete before playing. It turned out that he had a lot. But he knew he had to get after that before playing. We continued talking for a few minutes while he finished the cookies and soon he asked me, "Uncle Santa," he calls me Uncle, but I'm not really... his father is like a brother to me though. "Can you take me on a sleigh ride? Can I fly? After I do my homework? I have always wanted to fly with you."


Suddenly, I could sense my carefully thought out plans melting away. My initial thought was to say "No." After all, I had ton of emails to get caught up on. And he would have fun playing... so it wasn't like anyone was losing out. Then... for some reason... it occurred to me that there are only so many moments like this in a child's life where we can bring special & unique joy and we needed to seize them, no matter how big or small. This was one of those moments! So instead I answered "Yes, you can fly in the sleigh! In fact, let's go right now and I'll help you with your homework when we get back so we'll have it done before your dad gets home."


We took off immediately. I have never seen such pure joy in a child's eyes. I can not begin to explain how excited he was. He thanked me and hugged me what must have been a hundred times before I left that evening. His father called me a few minutes ago to tell me that his son had not stopped talking about the sleigh ride and that it was something his son would remember forever. And to think, it only cost me a few minutes of my time and a handful of emails that will have to wait a few more hours. I'll pay that price any day.