How Love Takes Shape Through Curiosity

2026, April 11th

A Father and Daughter Story

Some of the most meaningful moments I have with my daughter, whom I refer to here as Bugaboo for privacy reasons, are centered around curiosity.

We love watching nature documentaries together. We love asking questions about the natural world. We love noticing things when we are out in nature and wondering about how they came to be the way they are. Sometimes the questions are about animals or ecosystems or strange evolutionary adaptations. Sometimes they are about bigger concepts and ideas. Sometimes they are playful and weird in the best way 🫠

One thing I love about Bugaboo is that she really engages with that kind of curiosity alongside me. She does not just go along with it. She actually enjoys it too.

That shared love of the natural world has even become one of the ways we care for each other.

A recent moment that felt especially meaningful to me was actually a very simple one. I was overstimulated and she wanted to watch something together. I was too overstimulated to handle a cartoon, so she put on a nature documentary because she knew it would calm me down. And it did. I felt myself relax so much. I got to be cozy next to her and settle into enjoying an experience with her that felt gentle and grounding. What stood out to me was not only that it helped, but that Bugaboo noticed what was going on with me and responded in such a caring and compassionate way. That meant a lot to me.

I enjoy the way curiosity becomes a place where my daughter and I meet in shared exploration.

Sometimes I ask Bugaboo questions just to see where her mind goes. One time I asked her whether she ever thinks about thinking itself, or about thoughts themselves. She told me that she often wonders what some of her thoughts might look like. I thought that was hilarious and wonderful. She was very amused by the idea of some of her thoughts being round or squishy and green or other colors. I loved that moment. It was playful and funny, and it also felt like such a good example of the kind of imagination and openness that I want to keep encouraging in her. I feel so grateful for my daughter. Our shared time together has been helping to rekindle my own curiosity for the world 💝

We also draw together and make art together. A lot of the bond we share comes through exploration like that. Wonder. Observation. Questions. Play.

A particular session with her that especially stayed with me happened on March 15, 2026. I spent some time with Bugaboo that day introducing her to mindfulness and meditation. I explained that mindfulness not only helps relax the mind and body, but can also help us integrate experience and lean into insight. I invited her to pick an object in the room and really look at it. I asked her to think about its color and why it was that color and not some other color. I asked about its shape, whether it had smaller shapes within its larger shape, whether it was soft or hard, whether it was naturally occurring or designed, and how it came to be the way it is.

I was not just asking her to look at the object. I was inviting her to slow down enough to really notice what was there.

I remember asking her to compare the object as it first appeared to her with how it felt after spending more time observing it. The object itself likely had not changed, but her relationship to it had. I find that kind of shift quite meaningful.

Toward the end of the session, I asked Bugaboo what she sees when she looks into somebody else’s eyes.

We looked into each other’s pupils. Her first answer was that she could see her reflection in my eye. I remember being struck by that. On one level it was a simple answer. On another level it opened the door to something deeper. I touched lightly on the idea that sometimes when we look at other people, we are also seeing parts of ourselves, including our assumptions, our projections, and our own perspective. I did not want to make it too heavy. I ended with a joke and kept things light. But I really loved that moment.

A lot of what I love in my bond with Bugaboo lives in moments like these.

Not simply in “teaching” as far as some formal sense, but in sharing attention. Sharing wonder. Sharing questions. Exploring the natural world together. Letting curiosity be something alive between us.

Bugaboo is so important to me, and I love her so much. I want to remember these moments because they matter to me deeply.

I truly do find it beautiful that one of the ways love takes shape between us is through curiosity 💜

Tiger 🐯💝