I was house-sitting in Burbank for a friend back in 2006 and was charged with watering the front and back lawns and the backyard floral and plants three times a week. Every time I would water the front lawn I would find myself diddling around with the valve key, while waiting for the water to saturate the soil, but couldn't place where my fascination with the key was coming from, or why I was enjoying playing with it so much.
A few years ago, I came across this picture and had to laugh. Although I don't remember this moment with my dad, somehow in my spirit, a little person has been secretly working to relive the calm and happiness of those days. We take so much for granted at the outset of adulthood--under the illusion of being able to control the final mix of our lives, until the inevitable tests and storms arrive, and our preconceptions of self-importance and superficial expectations are washed away. After the clouds begin to clear, and we've learned to rebuild our lives on a more solid foundation, we spend the rest of our lives having to reeducate ourselves on what we've learned to deprioritize in the pursuit of our ambitions: Peace. Contentment. Love... The finer things of life are complex in their simplicity and attainment.