Pure Joy

I am still amazed at the joy on Miss Maggie's face when she is off and running. I can tell she is putting in 110% and enjoying it 110%. It reminds me of kids running outside for recess at school, or heading to the pool. She finds the simple joy in running free off leash, the same way many people feel when going to Disney Land for the first time.
I imagine that she is thinking... "Let me take off and run full speed down the hill" and then looking back and seeing me "Oh look, there you are, it is you" and she takes of running towards me at full speed.
I can see it in her eyes that pure joy. I used to see this often when she would run on the beach in the waves, now we have to find it when we can in the few places that we know of. But with the "longer hours" I see it more.
I wish I could be in places that I can express that full joy. I have learned to embrace moments, to make them last and encourage more. But you really can't just take off running with your jacket over your head, arms outstretched and pretending you are an airplane. It just isn't done as an adult.
I have gone out in the cold, the rain, when I am tired and worn out. I have dragged myself off to places that she can feel that freedom, and I in return feel it too. I have found that I can feel this freedom more often and need to make it a priority in my life. I have spent days off at the pool, or eating Popsicles or Ice Cream, sitting in the sun and just listening to the birds on warm summer days. Listening to the frogs and crickets on a warm summers evening and watching the rain pour down in a thunderstorm. I have closed the computer, left the phone out of hearing, and just put away all the distractions of the day to just be there. I only wish these moments would last just a bit longer.