Category: photography

Day 7 – The 30 Day Personal Growth Challenge

Today my nephew and I went on an Adventure!

“Where are we going?” he asked inquisitively…”somewhere magical” I replied.

We got together a few necessities; water, snacks, etc and we were off…

We drove to the river and parked. “We’re here” I said, as he anxiously looked around.

“The river?” he questioned, “I thought we were going on a magical adventure? What’s magical about the river?” he said a bit deflatedly. “I don’t know yet” I replied, “that’s why it’s an ADVENTURE!”.

We got out of the truck and walked toward the river. “The first thing we need” I said, “is a good walking stick!”. We soon both found acceptable walking sticks and the journey began.

As we walked toward the land bridge and across to Bateman Island, I asked my nephew if he had brought his magic wand. “No” he replied, rather surprised by my question. “What?” I exlaimed, “…well we better find one on our way then.”

We continued our journey and a few minutes later, he looked down and exclaimed “I found it! The PERFECT magic wand.” I smiled big and said “great job buddy”, and after a quick high-five, we continued walking; each with our walking sticks and he with our MAGIC wand.

Bateman Island is beautiful. As we walked we saw grasshoppers, dragonflies, ants, and birds. Grass, sand, rocks, plants, trees, and then we came upon some beautiful yellow wildflowers.

We both stopped to admire them and I said “What do you want to make?”. “Make?” he said curiously. “You know, with your magic wand…what do you want to make?”, I said with a grin. He looked at the small stick (magic wand) and then at me. “It’s just a stick Uncle Matt” he says, with a bit of attitude.

I laughed “How do you know? You haven’t even tried to use it yet”. I got an eye roll as he said “I don’t know what to make…”. “Make WHATEVER you want” I replied.

With that, he looked at me; and again at the stick. He smiled, waved this stick in the air and said “I’m going to make some purple flowers”, and with a quick “Abracadabra“, it was done. “And now the adventure begins…” I said as we started walking again; in search of his ‘creation’.

The weather was perfect and the view incredible. We both walked silently for some time. As we rounded a bend in the trail we came across some more flowers. “Not purple!” he states and continues walking. I stop and snap a couple of pics anyway 😜

After a long silence, he looks at me and says “It didn’t work…” and before he could finish his sentence, he looked down and saw HIS flowers.

“Uncle Matt, Uncle Matt…IT WORKED!!!…Look” as he pointed to his right.

Sure enough…purple flowers. He was ecstatic! We stood and admired them for a bit. He was elated that OUR magic wand had actually worked.

This time I didn’t have to ask what he was going to make, because he was using his magic wand non-stop 😊

“I’m making birds now – Abracadabra“

“I’m making trees now – Abracadabra“

“I’m making EVERYTHING now – Abracadabra”

My nephew was HOOKED and our adventure continued; as we rounded each bend, we talked about all of the beautiful things HE had MADE for us to see. “OH WOW, you did a great job on this!…how did you make that?” I said, as he showed ME all the cool stuff HE had made come out of that little stick.

We had a Most Excellent Magical Adventure!

I love that kid💜

I hope YOU had an excellent magical adventure of your own today!

The first 7 days of the challenge have been incredible for me. Some difficult, some scary, but most – FANTABULOUS! I am seeing the world and everything in it differently somehow. I AM CHANGING; and that’s personal growth.

With peace, love, and gratitude,

Namasté

Matthew