My daughter came to visit this week. It's been a while since I last saw her – she being in BC and me here in Ontario. The anticipation was palpable. Dare I say – I was even a little excited.

She got off the airporter, a little more slowly than I'd anticipated. She walked towards me a little more slowly than I'd expected -- or hoped for. Perhaps it was that little extra weight she was carrying. Perhaps it was the time of day. The early morning. The effects of the infamous “red eye”? Then again, perhaps it was that ring in her lower lip.

This afternoon I went a garden party to celebrate a dear friend's eightieth birthday. The garden was luscious, the food delicious…the guests a plethora of disparate friends old and new. The sky was very blue and the sun very warm, lulling my senses, leaving me only to watch the proceedings.

The young woman acting as hostess caught my attention. She stopped for a word here, a conversation there. Delivering a glass of wine to this one and a sun hat to another ... all the while moving graciously between the groups, full of smiles and good humour, listening to the stories – even telling some of her own. I was impressed by her charm.

And if it weren't for that smile, the spark in her eyes – that ring in her lip – I'd not have known this young woman was one and the same.

It got me thinking about life, all those other situations, the times at work and at home when we look to see only what we think should be, fully failing to see that which is.

I just wonder how many more times I'll allow my expectations to cloud my perception?