Van Ree's Voice

I know some might think a phrase like “Think of the little things because they far out way the big things in life,” is overused in our day and age. I tend to disagree with them. Although I am not here to emphasis that I understand this saying better than anyone else, I like to think that this way of life is something that I practice everyday.

Leo F. Buscaglia once said, “I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.”

In high school and college I was the only girl at school to wear rain boots more days then not. One reason I wore the fashionable items was because it was Washington, one of the rainiest places on the West Coast. The other was I always like to off-road, take an adventure and if I saw a puddle, jumping in it would bring me childlike joy that I think people lack too much of these days.

Many wonders could come from simply jumping in a puddle. You never knew how deep it was or how big a splash you would make until you jumped in – some could say the same about life.

Did people make fun of me? Heck yes they did. Did I care? Nope, the way I saw it they were the ones missing out on the adventure.

Another example, literally taking the quote to heart, is a video my parents have of me when I was really little.

In the video I had a pinwheel that my father had gotten for me at a toy store in my hand. It was all colors of the rainbow and I thought it was one of the coolest things ever.

But before the joyful event portrayed in the video, I couldn’t figure out how to work the pinwheel, trying days on end to get it to spin. I blew and blew on the little toy and from the direction I was aiming, even when I blew with all of my might, it refused to move in the spiral motion that would make the toy come alive.

Both my parents told me that I had to wait for a really windy day and then I could take the toy outside and watch the colors blend into a bladed circle.

One day I looked outside to see the leaves on the trees lifting back and forth on their limbs and the grass looked like it was suffering from an intense hairdryer session.

It was a weekend so both my parents were home and I ran to them. “The wind! There’s enough wind!” I shouted.

Both my parents agreed that it would be a perfect day to take flight. I say take flight because they both told me if the propeller on the pinwheel started going fast enough, it would take me away and I would fly away.

Of course this scared me as a kid. I didn’t want to be taken away from my parents, but with the excitement the pinwheel could offer, I felt daring that day.

The video shows me in a pink Lion King Simba shirt and crazy shorts. Most likely not enough clothing to keep warm from the brisk wind but that didn’t stop me.

I marched to the end of our walkway out front of the house and ran full speed against the wind; my long bangs peeled back on top of my forehead from the strength of the gusts. The pinwheel took off spinning like I had never seen it move before, the wind rushing past my ears made it seem like a scene I would later come to know from the movie Star Wars.

Though cold and hair tangled, the sense of joy and pride I felt in being alive and accomplishing my goal, no matter how small it was, was something I will never forget.

As I lay in bed writing this column I also think about a small thing that happened just hours ago that I take to heart as well. Tuesday I stayed home with a case of the stomach flu – I don’t recommend it to anyone, ever.

Although I was miserable and feeling as though the world was crashing down on me in a physical sense, it was the little things that got me through my day.

My friends asking if there was anything they could do for me, the worried tone of my coworkers and the caring and downright sweetness of my boyfriend. All those things were little and probably now forgotten by them, but to me those little things are what make us feel alive and loved.

The little things are a reason to get up in the morning, a reason to try something new and a reason to love your life.

Whether your little things are still watching cartoons in your underwear while eating cereal on a Saturday morning, or just hearing the simple words “I love you.”

Yes, big things can be monumental in your life but sometimes the little things go the most remembered.

Hannah Van Ree can be contacted at [email protected].