Always Happy To See You

My twenty-one month old son, Jordan, is a very happy and outgoing boy.  He has the “joie de vive” (joy of life) that most children his age exude.  He never fails to bring smiles to even the grumpiest of faces.  Jordie is just so excited to experience life that he can’t seem to contain himself.

            Take church, for example.  Jordan begins his rounds soon after the service begins.  He makes his way up and down the aisle, stopping at each pew to shake hands, smile and wave to those he can’t get to.  You can almost see the ripple of delight spreading over the congregation.  If he notices someone missing, he points to the empty spot and babbles urgently, as if to ask why that friend isn’t present.  Once he hears music, he races back to our family, opens a hymnal and begins caterwauling at the top of his lungs.  When the song is over, he snaps the book, shouts “All done!” and cheers loudly, much to the entertainment of our music director.  He then resumes his rounds, sometimes offering his greetings two or three times to each pew.

            Jordan is also extremely exuberant in other public situations. At dinner last night, he burst into the restaurant shouting, “EAT! EAT!” to the surprise of both the servers and diners.  He immediately ran to an empty table and yelled “Sit down!” to his grandmother and me.  He didn’t quite understand why we had to wait when there were lots of empty tables.  OK…neither did I.

            Once seated, Jordie took one look at the children’s menu, pointed to the pictures of the food and again screeched “EAT!”  He then promptly balled the menu up and threw it at his unsuspecting brother, bouncing it off his head.  When the server brought his lemonade, he pointed to the kitchen where saw food coming from and again shouted “EAT!”  Nothing his grandmother and I could say or do could quash his enthusiasm.

            Every time a server passed, they were greeted with a jubilant “HI!” and a two-handed wave.  If they were carrying food, they received thunderous applause and cheers of “YAAYYY!!”  It didn’t seem to matter that the food was going to another table – he was just happy that somebody, somewhere got to eat.  By the time our dinner arrived, all the servers gathered around for the presentation of Jordan’s chicken strips.  He was unusually quiet for a moment, then broke into a huge smile and yelled “Tet oo!”

(Thank you).

            When we came in, the servers were harried and just a tad aggravated.  When we left, they were smiling broadly, laughing and waving.  I’m not saying that Jordan is some sort of eternal ray of sunshine spreading giggles in his path (sorry – I had a Rainbow Brite flashback there).  What I am saying is this – next time you see an exuberant toddler chirping and flapping over his latest discovery, let some of that joie de vive rub off on you.  Take a look from a little one’s perspective and enjoy a few moments of innocent joy.