Wandering Along the Path: Right Speech

We drove out early this morning to see a Monet exhibit of his later paintings, and everyone else had had the same idea, but with our audio stuck to our ears, we managed to negotiate the throng and have an enjoyable experience.  I was wanting to test whether the show would be appealing to our three year old grandson, as he's quite amenable to looking at art.  I do think he would love it, and the two year old might also be persuaded to join him.  I bought them each a "Linnea in Monet's Garden" book and a cardboard Monet book for the almost born third grandson.  You can never begin too young.  I realized that the explosion of energy Monet experienced in his seventies and eighties was maybe partially a reaction to his cataracts but mostly that thing that happens to us as we age where we release ourselves from the constraints of our culture and feel free to be imaginative and creative and truly express ourselves.  The effort to be "what we are supposed to be" collapses, and we gravitate towards our grandchildren because we are exploring and rediscovering in the way we see them do.  Our facades crumble and we do not care.  We are complex, fluid and willing to try new experiences.  It's wondrous, and Monet's paintings are spectacular, huge, alive with color, free from the old forms.  It's joyous to see.