I could easily be annoyed with these pre-dawn antics, but instead, I’m oddly delighted. I love that my little boy gets excited for these trips like nothing else. This is not an expensive trip to some theme park or toy store–it costs nothing more than the gas money to get there. The glamour of the farm is playing in the dirt, building things with Grandpa, and chasing Grandma’s “roombug” (Roomba) around the house. In short: imagination and family. And it’s refreshing and heartwarming that a little boy who can, admittedly, get a bit wrapped up in the consumerist society we live in still finds such joy in these simple things.
So, to my parents I say: Thank you for giving my son the innocent joy and wonder of the free range. And I look forward to his sister discovering the same.