Shadows aren't just shadows

It was a beautiful day today. After a short stint of brisk weather, we were greeted with warm sunny days and cool breezes. I love days like this. My son and I set out today to run some errands. It seems that lately, most days we have to step out of the apartment to run an errand or two. Not that I mind getting out of the apartment on such nice days, I usually prefer to do all my errands at once on the same day.

Today, I had to go out to the post office and stop by my daughter's school to pick up the frozen cookies for a fundraiser the school had just done. I have about 13 items stacked in my fridge waiting to be distributed to its owners. Yummy. I'm tempted to bake some of my own cookies for myself tonight!

As my son and I stepped out of the apartment, I noticed the sun was spilling into the stairway. It was a nice view. Logan had started to creep tentatively and slowly down the stairs. He was also squinting due to the sun shining into our eyes. He stopped mid-way on the top set of stairs (we go up and down 3 flights everyday!) and looked to his left. The sun spilled over his head and caught his shadow on the wall. Logan was amazed. Imagine that there's a dark figure on the wall. And it's moving!

He immediately called out (and signed) "head!" and pointed to the shadow. "Yes, that's a head... YOUR head," I told him. He stood there for a couple of seconds just staring and analyzing his own shadow. Usually, I like to rush and get things done, but today - there was a calming and serene feeling to just stand there in the sun's warmth and watch my son. As we trekked down to the second flight of stairs, he looked up at the wall and noticed the shadow was gone. He was extremely puzzled. He looked at me and gave me a shrug as to say "I don't know."

He continued down the stairs to meet me and finally, saw his shadow again spilling down right beneath him. His eyes light up and a huge smile came on his face. When he moved, the shadow moved. It was very fascinating to him...

We finally made it to the car some few minutes later. He sat in the car happily and kept repeating "go, go!" We made it to the school only to be informed that the cookies wouldn't be ready for pick-up until 4:30pm. Oh well. We made it back to the car, but not before Logan saw his shadow again. This time, he tried stepping on it. He tried to catch it. He tried to escape it. A disappointed 2-year old failed to understand just what a shadow was.

Off we went to the post office. We skipped across the parking lot and was just about to enter the post office when - surprise, surprise - Logan noticed his shadow again. He stood there quietly for a while. It was as if he was trying to come to terms that a shadow is always there, but just out of his reach. Suddenly, I waved to him using my shadow. He turned around quickly and gave me the biggest smile I had ever seen. He turned back around to his shadow and gave me a wave. Finally - he understood.

Shadows aren't just shadows. It's a whole different world - a world full of imagination. Next time you're outside and it's a bright and sunny day, take a while and say hello to your shadow... I dare you.