This past weekend we hosted some friends from Virginia, Dorwon and Bette, on their whirlwind weekend visit. Bette had never been to New York City before, so we moved through Manhattan like tourists. We covered many miles on foot and by car, and hit a lot of the hot touristy spots in NYC, and our neck of North Jersey. 

We snaked through the sites with no real agenda, because Bette had said something like ‘I’ve never been here before, so it’s all new and interesting to me.’ 

So I took them to sites I have seen hundreds, if not thousands, of times. I pointed out places that I see on an almost daily basis, telling stories like a tour guide.

We visited the 9-11 Memorial, Battery Park, the High Line. We sat for a spell to people-watch in my favorite spot, Washington Square. We stood still in the frantic center of Times Square. We saw Little Island, giant cathedrals, and Great Falls. We ended our long Saturday with tall sundaes at Holsten’s, where Tony Soprano… y’know. 

All throughout the visit, whenever I asked ‘Where should we go next?’ Bette said that she was ‘open to whatever’.  

We had no expectations and no demands, just openness, interest and curiosity. We were moving through the moments with a tourist’s mind, a beginner’s mind.

There’s something about seeing things through the eyes of a first time visitor that makes them fresher, and newer, unlike ever before. Some things seemed more beautiful and wondrous, and some seemed odder, sadder and grittier. But no things were the same as they are when I drive past without even a thought. They were not just blending into the background as they do on a regular basis. They were now brought to the forefront, to be seen again, anew.

This weekend, I will have the honor and privilege of spending a few days at the lake-house with my great-niece, Violet. She has only been on this earth for 18 months. Every tiny thing that we do and see will be new and interesting to her. Even the things that she saw and did last year when she was 6 months old will be new to her, because she has changed and grown so much over the past year.

She has not yet outgrown her beginner’s mind. She doesn’t have enough past experience to color her expectations. She will remind me to be curious and open to everything, because everything is new. She will help me to see things again, for the very first time.

We are all here, in this physical form, for the very first time. So every single second of our lives is new. Every single second can be interesting, educational, beautiful, wondrous, joyful, gritty, sad, hopeful- new. 

I’m living this moment for the first time. No matter where I am or what is happening, I am a first time visitor. It is all new and interesting to me. I am open to whatever.