{"id":1280,"date":"2009-08-06T07:39:25","date_gmt":"2009-08-05T22:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-06\/1280"},"modified":"2009-08-06T07:39:25","modified_gmt":"2009-08-05T22:39:25","slug":"basics-of-life-a-bit-of-real-appreciation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/2009-08-06\/1280","title":{"rendered":"Basics of Life: A Bit of Real Appreciation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
\nNOTE<\/b>: Images with an icon next to them have been artificially shrunk to better fit your screen; click the icon to restore them, in place, to their regular size.\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 70 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>2000 sec, f<\/span>\/2.8, ISO 200 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nGod's Country<\/span>\nmy folks' backyard, looking back at the house\n<\/div>\n\n

Since the\ntractor ride<\/a> the other day, Anthony has gotten to steer the small\nriding lawn mower while he sits on the seat in front of me and I work<\/span> the\nfoot pedals. As you might<\/span> imagine of a six<\/span> year old, he can't get enough of\nit.<\/p>\n\n

As we were riding the mower around the lake this afternoon, I was struck<\/span>, as I often<\/span> am, by the beauty of the view, so I stopped<\/span> the tractor.\nAnthony protested “I want<\/span> to drive more”, but I asked<\/span> him to appreciate the\nview. Kids take every good thing that comes their way for granted, but I\nhope<\/span> he's old enough now at six to start to appreciate how lucky he is.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 36 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/6.3, ISO 220 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\nAppreciating the View<\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

I explained that where we live in Kyoto is beautiful and wonderful in so\nmany respects, but that Grandma and Grandpa's place is beautiful and\nwonderful for so many completely different reasons — fields he can run around<\/a>\nin, a\ntractor<\/span> he can ride<\/a>, a lake<\/span> for throwing\nrocks<\/a> and boat rides, fuzzy seed things floating by in the breeze that\ngrant you a wish<\/span> if you catch them,\nbirds eating out of his hand<\/a> and lots of wild life<\/a>,\nlots of nature<\/a> and farms<\/a> and pretty\ncountryside<\/a> — that he should be thankful that he can have these\nexperiences. Most of his classmates in Japan will probably never have them.<\/p>\n\n

He also has a Mommy and Daddy that love him very much, and who support\nhim having these experiences, and a Grandma<\/span> and Grandpa who love him very\nmuch and support these experiences.... a wonderful<\/span> life in Kyoto and a\nwonderful<\/span> life in America.... I just hope<\/span>, I told him<\/span>, that he might\nappreciate just how lucky a kid<\/span> he is.<\/p>\n\n

<\/a>\nNikon D700 + Nikkor 24-70mm f\/2.8 @ 24 mm — 1<\/sup>\/<\/big>400 sec, f<\/span>\/11, ISO 3600 —\nmap & image data<\/a> — nearby photos<\/a><\/span>\n<\/div>\n\n

We sat there on the lawn mower, him half on my lap in front of me,\nenjoying the splendid view, watching the wind on the lake and the\noccasional fuzzy “Santa Clause” seed thing float by, listening to the birds\nand the rustling of the trees.<\/p>\n\n

For long minutes he sat there motionless and in silence, and I let<\/span> him\nbe. After a long<\/span> time — perhaps ten minutes of silence — he\nsilently folded his hands over the steering wheel and bent over and buried\nhis head on his hands. This whole time I had<\/span> no idea what he was thinking,\nso I suddenly<\/span> got worried that he was ill or crying or something, and asked\nhim whether he was okay.<\/p>\n\n

“<\/big>I'm saying Thank You to God.<\/b>”<\/big><\/p>\n\n

(Later, we continued driving, grabbed the camera at\nthe house, and returned to the same spot for these pictures by which we\ncould remember the experience.)<\/<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since the tractor ride the other day, Anthony has gotten to steer the small riding lawn mower while he sits on the seat in front of me and I work the foot pedals. As you might imagine of a six year old, he can't get enough of it.<\/p>

As we were riding the mower around the lake this afternoon, I was struck, as I often am, by the beauty of the view, so I stopped the tractor. Anthony protested \"I want to drive more\", but I asked him to appreciate the view. Kids take every good thing that comes their [...]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/regex.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}