Mere presence of someone

It's a beautiful sunny Sunday morning, and my daughter awakes thrilled because today she gets to put on her "fancy" dress and go see the Easter Bunny. She is thrilled beyond belief. I explained we were going to the gym first, then return home to get ready to go see the Easter Bunny. She squeals, "ok, ok, ok, ok, ok, ok", while jumping up and down.

We return from the gym and get ready for our big outing to see the Mall Easter Bunny........she's 3 1/2, so to her she doesn't really understand what the Easter Bunny is all about, she just knows the bunny makes her laugh.

We get to the mall and I am pleasantly surprised to see how empty it is. Moreover, the line to the “Easter Bunny” is really short. There is only one kid in front of us, and my daughter’s energy level is so high I feel we could fly at this moment. It’s the most incredible feeling of energy. That pure, untainted flow of excitement, mashallah.

The kid in front of us now goes and sits on the bunny’s lap for his photo and we are next up. My daughter is nearly levitating at this moment because she’s so light with excitement. Now this is where the title of this blog comes in. How is it that the mere presence of another human being can either make you feel so good or so bad without the utterance of a word?

Of course as an adult we are rather jaded by life’s experiences and therefore are sometimes quick to judge a situation or a person, but children seem to be a little more tolerant. However, if I’ve learned anything about my daughter it’s that she seems to be a beacon for delivering accurate non-verbal messages about others. As I’m writing this now, I’m realizing that perhaps as adults we tend to teach our children over time to not think or act a certain way, when in reality their pureness allows them to be truth-tellers. And because we are taught growing up that we must mind our manners and always be respectful (which I don’t disagree with), but we are also taught to be tolerant of adults and their behaviors to the point that the children tend to hide their innocence…..perhaps as a way of survival in this world.

I know, I know, I’m getting really sidetracked here. Anyway, there’s an employee working at the bunny palace, and he comes over to us but hasn’t even uttered a word yet and immediately I see this expression wash over my daughter’s face. It’s as if she’d landed from this wonderful flying experience of excitement due to bad weather. This man was seemingly excited about his job and entertaining the kids to get the ‘perfect’ picture, but on the other hand there seemed to be something very disturbing about him. Perhaps it was my cynical side rearing its ugly head, but on the other hand my daughter’s non-verbal expressions were mirroring my own thoughts. Could it be that she picked up on my thoughts? Or were they truly hers as well? How is it that someone’s presence can either make you feel good or make you feel bad all within an instance? This I’m curious to learn from others.