Day: February 12, 2025

We carry within us the wonders we seek around us. —-Sir Thomas Browne

I suppose that I developed my sense of wonder from my parents and my grandmother Minnie Belle. My father seemed to make a habit of learning something new each day. He pored over the books that brought him so much joy while listening to recordings of the classical music that he so loved. He had so many interests that it would be difficult to name what fascinated him the most. I suppose one might say that he was curious about all aspects of the world around him. He transferred his excitement to me and to my middle brother. Sadly the younger of our family was too young to really remember him after he died so young. The wonder of it, is that my younger brother is the reincarnation of our father.

I find myself thinking of my father each time I collect yet another book. From time to time I run out of room for storing all of my treasures and cull the ones that have impressed me less than the others. I suppose that I might do better just putting them on my Kindle but I enjoy the feel of the paper, the illustrations on the cover and the smell of the ink almost as much as the content presented in the words. Reading is a tactile process for me just as it was for my father. Like him I am willing to try both fiction and nonfiction, poetry and prose. I tend to be happiest when I am browsing the aisles in a bookstore. Somehow I always find something that intrigues me and I can’t leave without bringing it home. I often read multiple volumes at once much like studying different subjects in school. The written word when well crafted is beautiful and I glory in discovering the best of it. 

My mother found wonder in the most ordinary places and moments. I suppose it was because she was a joyful person unless she was sick. We always knew when her bipolar disorder was interrupting her happiness because she was suddenly so sad and dissatisfied with everything. Most of the time thankfully she offered cheerfulness wherever she went. It took so little to bring a smile to her face. A really good cup of coffee with a bit of cake was a special treat. Sitting on the Galveston seawall watching the ocean tides gave her a thrill. She never had to spend money or travel to faraway places to see the glory in the world around her and I miss her gentle optimism to this very day. I have known no other person who was as content with so little. She felt blessed if she simply had just enough to have a roof over her head, pay her bills and feed her hunger. Anything beyond that was gravy in her mind and tiny luxuries made her laugh with unmitigated joy. 

I have told countless stories of my grandmother Minnie Bell. Oh, how I loved her and so it seems did everyone. She was like the pioneer women that I read about in my favorite childhood books. She communicated with the birds with calls that sounded authentic. She hunted and fished and made clothing and quilts out of fabric from the bags of flour that she purchased to make biscuits, bread, pies and cakes with recipes that she filed in her head. She told me about the “old days” when she washed clothes in a river and beat out the dirt on rocks. She described how people used corncobs to clean themselves in the outhouses. She showed me how to crochet and embroider and sew. To this day I think that if everything broke down in an apocalypse I would want to have Grandma Minnie by my side. She would be able to survive in any situation. 

Because of these remarkable people there has never been a time when I did not see and hear and feel the wonder around me. Even as I know that there are serious troubles in the world I notice the love and compassion and ingenuity of humans striving to set things right. Sometimes music is so glorious that it brings tears to my eyes. A beautiful line of perfectly selected words makes me breathless with awe. I see workers preparing roads in one hundred degree weather and I want to roll down the window of my car and shout thanks to them for doing a job that most of us would never want to try. I see beautiful babies with their loving families and I feel certain that we are going to be okay. I stare out my windows at the mischievous squirrel trying to steal the food that I have left for the birds and I chuckle with delight. I wave at my neighbors and feel such gratitude for being around really nice people. I work my puzzles and enjoy finding words that express my feelings almost magically. 

I carry many wonders inside my soul. They come from many people, many places, many experiences. They are representations of who I have become. it has been my good fortune to see the wonder that is ordinary and yet so extraordinarily magnificent. Stop and look around and you surely will see it too.