Slopes or hills?
My morning commute consists of a five to 10 minute (traffic dependent) shuttle bus ride to the subway station every day. On this ride I usually sit quietly and mull over the various tasks I need to accomplish each day. On occasion, when I am awake enough to actually pay attention, I’ll listen to the other passengers or chat with them as we start our day.
This morning, having had two cups of coffee instead of one, I was particularly alert and aware of the others around me. Rather than my usual semi-comatose run-through of my “to do” list I noticed two children and their nanny sitting in front of me. The boy/girl twins were about five years old and on their way to school. Each of them was bundled up in knit hats, scarves and mittens – the little girl’s braids poked out from her hat. They sat side by side carrying on a pretty intense, in-depth conversation about slopes. I found it interesting that five-year olds would use the word slopes and not hills and I was immediately drawn in.
The conversation went something like this:
Girl: When you’re going down, you’re going down. And, when you’re going up you’re going up.
Boy: I’ve never driven up slopes, only up hills.
Girl: Slopes are hills and hills are slopes.
Boy: Have you driven up slopes? Slopes can be steep.
Girl: I’ve never driven up slopes. I’ve driven down slopes. Biked down hills. Sledded down hills…
This banter carried on for the entire 7-minute ride to their stop. They continued back and forth about slopes and hills – how they are fun to walk down, but not up. They continued to debate the differences between slopes and hills and whether or not a particular street was a slope or a hill. It ended when they got off at their school a few blocks before the subway.
I looked around at the other passengers and realized we had all been listening in. We were all smiling. With a smile on my face I continued on my way to work, longing for the carefree days of my childhood where the most important thing in my day was the differences of hills and slopes. For the last few minutes of my commute I found myself slowly drifting back into the usual review of tasks ahead. But, before the phone rings and reality sets in I thought I’d take a moment to capture the smile those kids put on my face.
As the holidays draw near and the usual stresses of work, are coupled with gift shopping, card sending, cookie baking, tree trimming, holiday parties, friends, family and anything else that may get thrown your way, I hope you can find five to 10 minutes in your day to sit down and enjoy a good child-like moment.
