The Little Prince

Once upon a time I read "The Little Prince" in my high school French class. Reading it in French and not being particularly good at it, I did not really get the point. "Baobabs" or "Elephant in a boa constrictor" are not normal vocabulary words. Anyway, many years later, (it doesn't matter how many so don't try to count) I read the story to A&P. We had a nice time and as often happens when we finish a book, we had to take a break for me to recover from the sad parts. You don't want to be here, without Kleenex, when we read "Charlotte's Web."

Anyway, the Prince has a rose who causes him some fits, ironically like being married, but instead he's trapped on an asteroid with this very cranky, high maintenance flower. The very best part of the whole book is the following quote which is the secret the Prince, who is busy fretting about his flower, hears from the fox he has tamed:

One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.

So when we're fretting about our own flowers, whatever those might be, we're missing the important parts. The Little Prince has to sweep out his volcanoes; we have to pick up the socks and not leave he dishes in the sink. The Little Prince has to dig up the baobabs so that they don't grow so large that his planet explodes into a million pieces. I can't think of anything around here that dire- although Peter gets fairly upset when we're out of PopTarts.

The Prince misses his rose and finds a way to return to his planet, but I'm NOT telling you how. Here is a link to the entire story so you can get some Kleenex and find out for yourself:

The Little Prince

When the Prince realizes the fox was right all along, he repeats the fox's secret. When I'm raising my kids, and learning (read: messing up, repeatedly) along the way, perhaps together we'll realize this too...

...eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.