Stop and Smell the Roses... literally

I saw something on the Fox morning show today that I thought was really sweet.

Two sisters were on to talk to Kim Carrigan about their recently written book, “Shut Up About Your Perfect Kid,” which highlights the beauty of “imperfection.” Essentially, these women have learned to see how beautiful the world is through the eyes of their children — even if they misbehave, need therapy, have disabilities, etc. One of the sisters told a story about her daughter, who is highly functioning but autistic, that I thought was quite inspirational…

One morning, the woman asked her daughter to go get the newspaper for her. They live on top of a hill, so the driveway is a little bit long — and apparently full of adventures. The little girl stepped off the front steps and made her way to the newspaper, while her mother watched closely from the doorway. The little girl covered a few feet, then paused to picked up a caterpillar. Remembering her mission — get the paper — she put down the bug and marched on… but then a butterfly flew pass, and the little girl laughed and took a moment to chase the magical creature. A few feet down the driveway, she paused again, this time to smell the roses.

And that’s when it hit her mother — how beautiful this world is to this little girl.


Moral of the story? Simple: stop & smell the roses.