Interruptions

"Oh God, here she comes again" I thought to myself as Mai-te, my 1 1/2 yr. old housemate/Peruvian little sister came running into my room. I had just sat down to rest for a few minutes before I walked to the school I work at. Everyday Mai-te comes running into my room wanting to play exactly when I begin to lay down after lunch.

"Not today, seriously...I just want to lay here"

But, like usually her foot steps get louder and she suddenly appears in my doorway with a smile bigger than the world. She stands in the doorway until I signal for her to come to my bed.

She greets me with a kiss on the cheek.

Thats when I was reminded of something Henry Nouwen said - Most of the things we think are interruptions in our life are actually not interruptions. These things are life.

We are just so busy with the real interruptions of life like a nap or work or reading or shopping that we miss life happening before our eyes. We try to power through everything else, considering anything that gets in our way an interruption.

Today, Mai-te started as an interruption of my nap. But in reality, my nap was the interruption. The interruption of a very simple but important human interaction. My nap was an interruption of life.