I learned over dinner that in Joseph’s mind everything in the world smells good. At least, everything in the world should smell good. He explained his logic to me.  “Trees smell good,” Uncle David. “So does candy. And baguettes.”  Not bread mind you… baguettes. That one made me laugh.

I asked him what happens when there is a bad smell that encroaches on his nice smelling world.  I figured that question would leave him stumped. Wrong. He told me that bad smells make him want to scrunch up his nose and stop the smell. Sounds logical, right?

I kept at my questioning and dug a little deeper on the bad smell answer. This produced the gem I knew had to be within the wonderful mind of a nine-year old.

“What”, I asked, “would happen if the bad smell got to you?”

“Well,” said Joseph, “the bad smell will upset the dream Uncle David.”

It’s like that isn’t it?  Sometimes life will throw you a curveball, a figurative ‘bad smell’.  Quite often things will not go the way you thought they would, could, or should.  As we get older its harder to ‘scrunch up your nose’ and stop that dream from being upset. The truth is the world around us can upset our dream.  But when things don’t go according to plan you should always keep your dream and the plan in mind.  Don’t let any setback that could have been temporary become permanent.  Brush yourself off, breathe deeply, and start again.

The world smells good, according to Joseph, and the world is filled with possibility.  Breathe it in!

Have you ever asked kids why they do some of the quirky things they do? The answers can be surprising and surprisingly insightful. Share your gems in a comment if you have a moment.