I’ve decided that since it’s only 9 days until I turn 50, it must be time to figure a few things out. One of them is to listen to my good friend’s son.  Gabriel was probably only about 8, or maybe 7 years old, when this happened. But to understand the story, you need to know that Gabriel is a very wise old soul in a kid’s body.

It was a Saturday in October. His mom finally had some free time and was all ready to roll on the Hallowe’en thing…so she said, “Do you want to go with me to get a costume now, or carve the pumpkin or …”  She actually had quite a list of options for that particular employment-free morning.

Gabriel, who was still in his pajamas and robe and was wheeling his scooter around on the pavement outside the house, turned to her and very clearly stated, “I want to do what I want to do…when I want to do it…and I don’t want to do that.”

And so today, I practised listening to the wisdom of Gabriel. I wrote. I meditated. I walked with my girlfriends. I weeded. I drank coffee.  I wrote some more.  I had a bath with lavender scented epsom salts. I stretched. In short, I took the proverbial flower-smelling time.

I did what I wanted to do, when I wanted to do it. And nothing else.