what's important

I have the entire day off today. I left the hotel this morning only really wanting to visit the coffee shop I found the first morning I was here. I walked about 15 minutes down the road and sat in the coffee shop drinking coffee and eating a lemon poppyseed muffin. I read a book.

Then, feeling as if I should experience Stockholm the way a tourist should, I asked the girl working there what she would recommend doing. She suggested the photography museum. I walked down to the canal and bought a boat pass. I took some pictures of the ships and architecture. I went to the photography museum. The boat and museum took up about 1.5 hours of my 9 hours of free time.

Then, I decided all I really wanted to do was go back to the pizza place and park I took MF to the other day. I just wanted to sit and read and enjoy the clean Swedish air.



The sun is out. The kids are jumping rope, climbing trees, skateboarding, and playing chase. Huge groups of people (men, women, children, babies) are gathered together on blankets enjoying the sun and each other.



This goes right back to the quality of life I was talking about in my last post. It was 3:30 when I got to the park. Men are off work, just hanging out with their families. No one has yelled at their kids. I haven't seen a stressed out look on anyone's face. Only laughter fills the air.


Life is how it should be. I desperately wish I lived here. That my family and friends could all be hanging around together in the sun enjoying the afternoon. That would just never happen in America unless I planned Zach's birthday party at a park. And it would, of course, have to be on a weekend if I expected the fathers and men to attend.

I want to remember this moment, this way of living, for the rest of my life. I want to remove the ridiculous stresses that we all get caught up in in everyday life in the city. I want to simplify my life. I want to spend more time with less things. To be outside, in nature, with my little boy as much as possible. To not worry about getting dirty. To breathe deeper. To love better. To show Zach the way life can be lived differently than how everyone around us lives their life.

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