{"id":8800,"date":"2014-07-02T15:26:21","date_gmt":"2014-07-02T19:26:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/?p=8800"},"modified":"2014-07-02T15:26:21","modified_gmt":"2014-07-02T19:26:21","slug":"just-add-water-swimming-with-little-fishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/beginnersheart\/2014\/07\/just-add-water-swimming-with-little-fishes.html","title":{"rendered":"just add water: swimming with little fishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a>I took my grandson swimming today. To a tiny inflatable pool off the side of the deck at the ‘kids’ house. We sat in the 85 degree air, in tepid water, liberally coated w\/ SPF 50, and splashed. And splashed. And splashed again, with\u00a0great<\/em> enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Then we filled a Solo cup with a pink floaty sponge, and held our tongues out to be shot with a water gun. Not to mention throwing a filthy yellow tennis ball that Silas-the-wonder-dog kept dropping in the water for fetch.<\/p>\n

It was its own form of Nirvana — the everyday miracle of a happy life.<\/p>\n

My grandson played at swimming — paddling as he lay across my outstretched legs, putting his head in the water to drink (don’t tell my son — I would NEVER have let my sons do that, but this is my grandson!). I gently poured water over him, and he laughed happily.<\/p>\n

Me too.\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What is about swimming with little fishes? How is it that my world simplifies, and reduces in size like cropping a picture back to only the essential image?<\/p>\n

Much of it is, of course, the way a 13-month-old little fish reminds me of how magic a summer-day-add-water is. You don’t even need much water: enough to pour from a cup, enough to cool off when the sun goes behind a cloud.<\/p>\n

Just an ordinary day, with a little extra magic: sunlight and water. And a one-year-old who hasn’t yet forgotten how special those are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I took my grandson swimming today. To a tiny inflatable pool off the side of the deck at the ‘kids’ house. We sat in the 85 degree air, in tepid water, liberally coated w\/ SPF 50, and splashed. And splashed. And splashed again, with\u00a0great enthusiasm. Then we filled a Solo cup with a pink floaty…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":398,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[576,37],"tags":[11,1181,1187,262,1308,1195,1248],"class_list":["post-8800","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-everyday-living","category-family","tag-beginners-heart","tag-britton-gildersleeve","tag-buddhism","tag-buddhist-blogs","tag-everyday-living","tag-family","tag-living-in-the-moment"],"yoast_head":"\njust add water: swimming with little fishes - Beginner's Heart<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I took my grandson swimming today. 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