PERCEPTION

When my 14 1/2-month-old granddaughter came to spend the day on my birthday, her doting grandparents took her for a walk in her stroller. You can see from the picture above how comfortable she made herself. Grandma couldn’t help but grab a quick photo of her tiny feet and send it to her mommy and daddy.

I wrote the following email:

“SHARON <SHARON.MARK.COHEN@GMAIL.COM>

Wed, Jul 8, 11:15 AM

In about a week these feet will look so big.”

This got me thinking about how our stance in life determines the way we perceive things. With our second grandchild due this month, when our granddaughter becomes a big sister, I can just imagine how big her tiny feet will look.

The biggest surprise to us when we became second-time parents was how big the head of our two-year-old looked. Now, 30 years later, as our son prepares for the birth of his second child, we wanted to give him a lesson on perception. Isn’t that one of the jobs of parenting?

Just as we will change how we perceive our granddaughter’s tiny feet any day now, this is a lesson on how we perceive others in general. Live and learn.