Coo, kick, splash

A feeling of overwhelming stress can be easily dispelled by the simplest of things.

A shriek from a two-year-old, so excited to see you that she nearly trips on her way to hug you. A smile from a weary wife, holding down two children while you spend your day crafting silly headlines. The knowledge that it will all soon pass and work can become boring again.

This is what it meant to grow up. To begin growing old. To settle down. It means realizing that those small things really do matter. That the hardened crust of toil, no matter how physical, can melt away like wax.

And sometimes, it comes from something you had long forgotten.

Like the coo, the kicks, the splashing. A six-week old, exhausted from an hour of screaming, testing out the water in his bathtub. Discovering something you’d long ago taken for granted – the freedom to make waves. Coo. Kick. Splash.