One of my favorite comic strips as a kid was Calvin & Hobbes by Bill Watterson. Calvin was a six-year old boy with a vocabulary and intelligence beyond his years. He has no filter and questions and ideas flow right from his brain to his mouth. Hobbes is his stuffed tiger that is alive to Calvin but a stuffed animal to everyone else. They would go on adventures together and talk about the world and why it is the way it is. It was great as a kid, and it holds up as the years go by. It’s always interested me how you can look back on things from your youth and have a whole new appreciation for them as an adult.

One of the strips that stuck with me is one where Calvin is digging a hole in his backyard. Hobbes questions why, and Calvin tells him he is looking for buried treasure. Hobbes asks what he found, and Calvin responds “a few dirty rocks, a weird root, and some disgusting grubs”. The next panel shows a jubilant Hobbes saying “On your first try??” and Calvin exclaiming with a large grin that “there’s treasure everywhere!”.

As an adult I appreciated that this strip taught me that life is all about perspective. Adventure isn’t a thing you do, it’s a mindset you have. The ordinary becomes extraordinary depending on how we look at it. The world is full of everyday miracles just waiting for us to appreciate them. As you go through your day today, take a moment to appreciate that there are some incredible things going on around us. It’s Spring, flowers are blooming, the weather is getting warmer and the days a little longer each day. It’s a beautiful time to be alive.