The other day I was talking to my niece on the phone. She’d called earlier with the happy news that she’d found cheap flights, and their whole branch of the family would be flying from Minnesota to California for a long January weekend. When I called her, she’d just got her three-year-old and baby bathed and was having a little bit of early evening quiet time. “Put Charlie on,” I said. His hello was a bit tentative. He only sees me every few months.

“Are you coming to visit me in a big jet plane?” I asked.

“Hmm,” he said. “What?”

“Are you going to get in a plane with baby Alice and come to visit?”

“It is dark outside,” he said. “It is late. I am tired. I don’t think so.”

No, in that moment, the only one he was in, he was not getting on an airplane. He was not even getting his jacket on to drive to the airport. He was not even packing a suitcase. He was in his ‘jammies, tired, ready to go to sleep.

How many people have said it, in how many spiritual vernaculars—live in the present moment. Be like a little child.

Peace.