Sometimes joy arrives by simply asking.
Field Notes
She didn’t ask who I was.
She didn’t ask whether I was a good dancer.
She simply walked over and asked if I’d dance with her.
For a moment, there was no audience, no performance, and no right way to move. Just two people laughing and making it up as we went.
Children often approach the world with an openness many of us slowly lose. They ask. They invite. They assume connection is possible.
Somewhere along the way, many of us begin waiting for permission—to dance, to be playful, to look a little silly, to let ourselves be seen.
But joy rarely arrives because we’re ready.
It arrives because someone extends an invitation, and someone else says yes.
Maybe we don’t outgrow joy.
Maybe we just stop accepting the invitations.