Listen With Your Heart

I love Valentine's Day, yes I do. As a child I loved the drugstore cards that I spent so much time over deciding who got what, the elaborate construction paper-covered shoebox card receptacles, the miscellaneous decorations we made for the class parties, and the tiny red hots piled high in thin paper nut cups that always accompanied the creamy cupcakes brought in by loyal room mothers.

But the thing I love most about this holiday is all the hearts. I love hearts. In fact I heart hearts. The first "officially turning 12" gold necklace that I received from my parents was a small burnished gold heart from the jewelry counter of I. Magnin's in San Francisco. My first "officially becoming a teenager" ring I received, again from my parents, was a gold heart outlined in small garnets, again from I. Magnin's. (Now the location of Macy's in Union Square).

I am drawn to the image of the heart, the shape, the curves, the point. I collect heart rocks. And since having moved to Dana Point, I've increased my collection by a goodly number. I love the smooth feel, the mishapen outlines, the glistening sea-soaked heart-shaped rocks that find a way into my pockets and back home into my bowl on the fireplace hearth.

So imagine my great and wonderful surprise when I noticed that Baby Sawyer's ear is not only absolutely adorable, but also has a heart in it, in fact when you really study it, it's got 3 hearts, kind of like when you see a triangle within triangles. I have had the great blessing to be able to hold and cuddle and help this little one get to sleep over the past 2 months which has given me plenty of time to study his ears, especially his left ear, the one closest to his heart. I think this little boy will always have the reminder to "listen with his heart" (thank you Steven Covey) as his most noticeable physical heart is the one he'll be using to hear all that comes his way. He's clearly using his little heart ear (don't you love how the word ear is imbedded in the word heart?) to hear his mommy and me sing and talk to him while he smiles and coos back.

To see the 3rd heart you have to look at his ear in person

Sawyer happy with his new whale hoodie (Dana Point's Whale Festival is this month)

In Disney's, "Pocahontas", we find the lyrics of Listen With Your Heart to include:

Listen with your heart
You will understand
Let it break upon you
Like a wave upon the sand
Listen with your heart
You will understand

The art and heart of listening reminds me of the time it takes for my surf-refined heart rocks to become what they've become. Capo Beach is paying great dividends...many yet still to be discovered.